There is an unusual voter in the midterm elections, a test of Donald Trump's second term: his name on the registration list is Robert Francis Prevost, but as of May 8, 2025, he has assumed that of Leo as the 267th successor of Peter elected in the conclave. "The Pope has exercised his right to vote as a citizen of the United States, every time he has had the opportunity. The Holy See Press Office confirms that, in keeping with this consolidated practice of civic participation, the Pope has sent his ballot by mail to Chicago," the Vatican announced late this morning, after news from the local newspaper Chicago Sun-Time had already begun circulating overseas. Citing an official, Kim Fladhammer, chief of staff for the Will County Clerk's Office in the Chicago metropolitan area, Prevost was "on the list of people who have requested a mail-in ballot for the upcoming elections."
The request was apparently registered on October 3, and the Pope is still registered in the electoral registry there under his civil name and his brother John's address: New Lenox, Will County . Here, in particular, the race pits incumbent Republicans Frankie Pretzel and Judy Ogalla against Democratic challenger Bob Howard, but there is no official indication of which district the Pope is voting in. He thus becomes the first Pope in modern history to participate in an electoral consultation.
"The Holy Father," the press office eloquently added, "expresses his conviction regarding the right and duty of citizens to participate in democratic processes."
Leone's brother John is said to have personally delivered the ballot paper, and the registration dates back to eight days before he announced to the world that he would undergo surgery which later revealed the presence of a lung tumor, which was removed at the Gemelli hospital on October 13th.
Leo XIV would also have been the first Pope to vote "in a democratic and secular election," as historian Michael Walsh, author of several books on the papacy, pointed out to CNN. There is no record of John Paul II, Benedict XVI, or Francis exercising their right to vote in elections in their respective countries of origin during their pontificates.
(Unioneonline)
