WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Pope Leo XIV was among voters participating in the upcoming U.S. midterm election, as he requested and submitted a mail ballot in Illinois, according to a county official and the Vatican.
In casting his ballot, the Chicago-born pontiff – who remains a U.S. citizen, as well as a citizen of Peru – became not only the first pope to vote in a U.S. election, but also provided what some observers called a timely moral witness to participating in the democratic process.
The Holy See Press Office confirmed Pope Leo cast his ballot, adding in a statement that he "has exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen, whenever he was eligible to do so."
Meghan J. Clark, a professor of moral theology at St. John's University in New York, told OSV News, "For Catholics, active participation in the political life of the community is a moral obligation."
"We have a responsibility to be informed and to vote," she said. "As a moral leader, Pope Leo is modeling faithful citizenship."
She added that voting "is not only important in the United States of America. In many parts of the world, free and fair elections are being threatened."
"The pope provides a moral witness that is not limited to the United States," she said.
Civic leaders also praised the pope for participating in the election. Gov. JB Pritzker, D-Ill., wrote in a post on X, "If the Pope can vote all the way from Vatican City, you can too," and he included a link to information about voter registration and eligibility.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has long held that it will not endorse or oppose specific candidates for public office, instead referring Catholics to its document "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship" as a reference point for discerning their choices at the ballot box. The conference has more broadly encouraged eligible Catholics to vote.
"As Catholics and Americans, we are blessed to be able to participate in our nation's political and public life," Chieko Noguchi, executive director of public affairs for the USCCB, said in a statement responding to the report that Pope Leo submitted a ballot.
"With the midterm elections approaching in the United States, the Conference has been encouraging Catholics to exercise their right to vote and to do so in a way that places our faith before our politics," she said. "In voting, our Holy Father sets the example that encourages each citizen to exercise their civic responsibility. The U.S. bishops have emphasized that is not 'who' one is voting for, but rather on encouraging Catholics to inform their conscience as they prepare to vote and to uphold human dignity and the common good in doing so."
Clark cautioned that it would be a "mistake to interpret or frame the pope's decision as a matter of partisanship or a statement on current U.S. politics."
"As Robert Prevost, we have been told, he consistently exercised his right to vote whenever he has been eligible," she said in reference to the Vatican press office's statement.
Kevin Appleby, senior fellow for policy and communications at the Center for Migration Studies of New York and the former director of migration policy for the USCCB, told OSV News that Pope Leo appears to be "sending a message that participating in the democratic process is important; and that the right of people to vote and select their leaders is essential to preserving human dignity and human rights, not just in the U.S. but across the globe."
"I also think he is sending a more subtle message as well, that absentee voting is a legitimate form of exercising your right to vote," he said, "and that it ensures that the maximum number of a country's citizens are able to participate in an election."
A recent Pew Research Center survey found that among all Catholics, 42% said that if the election were held today, they would vote for the Democrat in their House district, 39% said the Republican, while another 19% said they were unsure or would select another party's candidate. It also found white Catholics and Hispanic Catholics divide sharply over which party's candidates they plan to support in the midterms.
A subsequent survey commissioned by Network, a Catholic social justice lobby, found that undecided Catholic voters are a swing voting bloc, but reliably show up to the polls.
Analysts who spoke with OSV News about the Pew survey previously pointed to two unique factors – in addition to the broader general trends – that may have pushed Catholic voters away from Trump: some of the immigration policies Trump has implemented that Catholic leaders have objected to and Trump's social media and verbal attacks on Pope Leo earlier this year.
The midterm elections will determine the balance of power in Congress for the final two years of Trump's second term. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report said Oct. 30 seven key Senate races were still within the margin of error. Control of the upper chamber will come down to those races, as Democrats would need to flip four of those seats to win a majority currently held by Republicans. Cook's analysis also projected that Democrats were expected to win a House majority.
A New York Times/Siena poll of key Senate battleground races published Nov. 1 found Democratic candidates leading Republicans in Michigan, Kansas, Maine, Ohio and Texas. They held a narrow advantage in Alaska, and the Democratic and Republican candidates were effectively tied in Iowa.
The midterm elections are scheduled for Nov. 3.
In the weeks before Pope Leo cast his ballot, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the USCCB, issued a statement Oct. 14 reminding Catholics that "for citizens in a representative democracy such as our own, participation in public life – including voting – is both a right and a responsibility."
