Pope Leo Votes by Post in Chicago, a First for the Papacy

Pope Leo has voted in the United States midterm elections, submitting a mail-in ballot in his native Chicago ahead of polling next week, according to CBS News, which reported the Vatican's confirmation that the pope had exercised his rights as a US citizen. The Guardian reported that it is the first time a sitting pontiff is known to have cast a ballot in any political election at any point in history.

The Vatican's wording, as CBS carried it, treats the vote as a civic act by a man who happens to hold American nationality rather than as a position taken by the Holy See. That distinction is the whole of the official framing, and it is one the Roman Curia has reason to protect.

The Guardian notes that Leo has clashed with Donald Trump over several issues. The ballot therefore enters an American partisan contest at a moment when the pope's public disagreements with Washington already form part of the record.