Overview
- The Vatican confirmed that Pope Leone XIV, registered in Illinois as Robert Francis Prevost, requested an absentee ballot and mailed it to Chicago after a request filed on October 3.
- Will County records show Prevost’s name among absentee applicants and local reporting says the physical ballot arrived at the New Lenox home of his brother John, who reportedly took it to the Vatican intending to return it to U.S. election offices.
- Illinois and federal rules, including the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), permit U.S. citizens living abroad to request and cast mail ballots and state election officials said absentee voting is available to any eligible elector who asks for it.
- The Vatican framed the act as the Pope exercising a citizen’s duty to vote and election officials stressed that the ballot is secret, so there is no public record of how he voted or whether the ballot has been formally filed with county clerks.
- Reporters note Prevost’s long voting history in Illinois and that this participation departs from recent papal practice, raising questions about the boundary between a Pope’s personal citizenship and the Vatican’s political neutrality that could shape U.S. coverage in the coming days.