Reported by Al Jazeera
Vatican confirms the pope submitted a mail-in ballot in his native Chicago ahead of November 3 midterm elections
Pope Leo XIV has become the first pontiff to vote in a United States general election after casting a mail-in ballot in Chicago, where he was born.
The Vatican confirmed on Friday that the pope submitted a mail-in ballot in the city ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, citing his longstanding belief in civic participation.
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Leo, formerly Robert Prevost, “has exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen”, as he has done “whenever he was eligible to do so”, the Vatican’s press office said.
“The Holy Father expresses his belief in the right and the duty of citizens to participate in democratic processes,” it added.
In a note commenting on Leo’s vote, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops urged Catholics to put “our faith before our politics” and “uphold human dignity and the common good”.
“In voting, our Holy Father sets the example that encourages each citizen to exercise their civic responsibility,” said the conference’s director of public affairs, Chieko Noguchi.
Leo is a citizen not only of the US but also of Peru, where he lived as a priest and bishop for more than 20 years, as well as of the Vatican, where he is head of state.
US federal law allows citizens living abroad, even those working for foreign governments, to vote via absentee ballot.
Americans working for foreign governments are not automatically at risk of losing their US citizenship, but the US State Department says on its website that it may “actively review” the citizenship status of Americans who “serve as a foreign head of state, foreign head of government, or foreign minister”.
In this year’s midterm elections, voters in the solidly Democratic state of Illinois, where Chicago is located, will select a successor to retiring Senator Dick Durbin and choose whether to re-elect Governor JB Pritzker.
Leo requested a mail-in ballot on October 3, just 10 days before he underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumour from his right lung. He has slowly been resuming…