The first American pope in history has requested a mail ballot to vote in Illinois, which means the leader of 1.4 billion Catholics is about to cast a vote in the same election as your cousin who posts Minion memes about gas prices. Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago, asked for the ballot on Oct. 3 from his residence in Vatican City, and the man who once called him 'WEAK on crime' is going to have to live with it.
The Holy See Meets the Will County Clerk
Here's the setup. Will County Clerk's Office chief of staff Kim Fladhammer confirmed to NBC News that Leo, a registered Illinois voter, requested a mail ballot on Oct. 3. The Chicago Sun-Times first reported the request. As of Thursday, the clerk's office had not received a completed ballot back.
If the pope fills it out and mails it, the ballot goes to Joliet, Illinois. Somewhere in a county election office, a staffer will open an envelope that traveled out of the world's smallest sovereign state and process it like any other. No pressure, Joliet.
By virtue of being the first American pope, Leo would also be the first pope ever to vote in a U.S. election. Previous popes were Italian, Polish, German, and Argentine, so none of them had a congressional district to worry about. This one does.
A Voting Record Longer Than Most Congressmen's Attendance Sheets
This isn't a publicity stunt from a guy who never bothered before. Public records show Leo voted in the 2012, 2014, 2018, and 2024 general elections. He also pulled Republican primary ballots in 2012, 2014, and 2016.
That last part will give a certain kind of cable host a stroke, so let's be clear. Illinois voters don't register by party, and they pick which primary to vote in each cycle. Choosing a Republican primary ballot in 2016 is a thing a regular person with a regular voting history does. Nobody is hiding a secret MAGA past here.
The man has also been missing from the rolls for a few years while, you know, running the Catholic Church. He still found time to make the 2024 election. Many of your friends cannot say the same.
What's Actually on the Pope's Ballot
His congressman is Rep. Jonathan Jackson, a Democrat, son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson and brother of former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., and he's seeking re-election. The Senate race features Democratic nominee Juliana Stratton, the state's lieutenant governor, who is running to succeed the retiring Dick Durbin. Gov. JB Pritzker is on the ballot too, chasing a third term that would be a first for any Democrat in Illinois.
It is, in other words, a ballot full of solidly blue races. The pope lives in a state where the outcome of most of these contests is about as suspenseful as the ending of a Hallmark movie. His vote is symbolic in the way all of ours are in a safe state, which is to say mathematically modest and emotionally important.
We do not know how he will vote. The ballot is secret, which is a thing we still have, at least for now.
Trump and Vance Have Opinions About the Pope
Now for the part where this gets spicy. Since becoming pope in May 2025, Leo has been an outspoken critic of certain Trump policies, including the U.S. war against Iran and the administration's treatment of immigrants. That war began with U.S.-Israeli strikes on Feb. 28.
In April, Leo called for peace. Trump responded on social media by calling the pope 'WEAK on crime' and 'terrible for Foreign Policy,' while also taking credit for his papacy. Read that again. The president took credit for the pope and trashed him in the same post. That is a man who both owns the franchise and wants a refund.
'I'm not a big fan of Pope Leo,' Trump said at the time. Leo told NBC News he had 'no fear of the Trump administration' and would keep advocating for peace. Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic, also piled on, saying Leo should 'be careful' when he talks about theology. A guy who converted as an adult is lecturing the pope on how to be careful with theology. Someone get that man a mirror and a catechism.
The Lung Cancer Detail Nobody Should Skip
One more thing worth sitting with. The pope had lung cancer surgery this month, and he still requested a ballot. It is unclear whether he has filled it out or mailed it yet, and that is entirely his business.
But consider the contrast. We have plenty of healthy, able-bodied adults who treat voting as an optional hobby, something to do if the weather's nice and the line is short. Here's an elderly man recovering from major surgery, living in another country, who made sure the paperwork was filed three weeks before Election Day.
The lesson is not subtle. If the pope can get a ballot request in from a different continent while recovering from cancer surgery, you can find your polling place.
The Dingo Take
Who benefits from the pope voting? Not the Vatican, which gains nothing from this. The people who benefit are the ones who've been trying to turn Leo into a partisan prop, and they come from both directions. The right gets a fresh villain to rage about on Fox, a foreign-living churchman who dares to have views on war and immigrants. The left gets a feel-good headline and a few thousand shares. Everybody cashes in on the engagement, and the man himself just wants to cast a ballot like any other citizen.
And that's the actual story, buried under the novelty. A registered voter asked for a mail ballot, which is a normal and boring thing to do. The only reason it's news is that Trump and Vance spent months picking fights with the guy over peace and the treatment of immigrants, which turned a routine civic act into a political event. When your own administration makes the pope a political enemy, you don't get to act surprised when he shows up on the voter rolls.
So here's where we land. We don't know how Leo will vote, and we shouldn't pretend to. What we do know is that he's participated in four general elections, he asked for his ballot on time, and he's not afraid of the guy who called him weak. If the leader of the Catholic Church can manage his civic duty from the Vatican while recovering from lung surgery, the rest of us have run out of excuses. Check your registration. Request your ballot. Vote.
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