Pope Leo XIV newly elected, born in Chicago under the name of Robert Prevost, is registered to vote in the United States and previously voted in some republican primaries, but it is not recorded as a member of a political party, and its history of voters does not indicate for whom it voted or why.
According to the Council of Elections of the State of Illinois, there is no registration of parties in the state. Voters can only choose a party’s ballot in each primary, but that does not restrict the party bulletin that a voter is authorized to choose in the following primaries.
The recently elected Pope Leo XIV celebrates mass with the college of cardinals inside the Vatican sixtine chapel the day after his election as 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church on May 9, 2025.
Simone Resoluti / Vatican Media via AP
ABC News has obtained the history of the voters of Leo at the office of the County of Will, who is the current local electoral authority for him. (The office provided it in response to an investigation referring to allegations on the online circulating after being announced as the new Pope, and the files include a date of birth that corresponds to Leo.)
Leo voted in the general elections of 2024, in the 2018 general elections, in the 2016 republican primary, in the 2014 and primary republican elections and in the general elections of 2012 and primary republican, in the history of the voters of the office of the County County.
The history of the vote says neither does not indicate anything about the way in which Leo voted during each election, why he voted in certain elections and not in others or if he was affiliated with a specific party, since he would not have registered with parts in Illinois during the registration to vote. ABC News did not obtain files showing the elections in which he voted before 2012.
Leo could still vote in future elections.
In this November 5, 2024, the photo of the file, the citizens voted for the 2024 presidential election of the United States at the Catholic Church Borgia in Chicago.
Anadolu via Getty Images, file
A voter living abroad can continue to vote by mail until the voter retains his speech to vote in Illinois, according to a spokesperson for the Board of Elections of Illinois. If this voter abandons his speech on Illinois, the right to vote of this voter for federal offices would always be protected by the law on voting by citizens in uniform and abroad.
The personal policy of the new Pope is not known.
Before being elected pontiff, Leo was present on Twitter, and later X, where he sometimes shared messages that seemed to criticize some of President Donald Trump’s policies.
Trump and Vance both congratulated Leo. Various cardinals have indicated, separately, that they believe that Leo can establish a connection with Trump.
Friday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York told journalists: “Will he build bridges at Donald Trump? I suppose he would like to build bridges with the chief of each nation.”
Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, Archbishop of Yangon in Myanmar, told James Longman from ABC News that he thought that Leo can “build a bridge” and have a dialogue with Trump.
Hannah Demissie of ABC News, Chris Boccia, Terry Moran, Ariane Nalty and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.
