Washington Letter: Pope Leo’s history-making US ballot models ‘faithful citizenship’
Pope Leo XIV requested and submitted a mail ballot in Illinois for the U.S. midterm election, becoming the first pope to vote in a U.S. election. The Vatican confirmed that Leo exercised his voting rights as a U.S. citizen whenever eligible; he is also a citizen of Peru. A moral theology professor said voting and informed participation in political life are responsibilities for Catholics, describing the pope’s ballot as a model of faithful citizenship. The U.S. bishops encourage Catholics to vote while directing them to “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” rather than endorsing or opposing candidates.
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Pope Leo XIV cast a mail ballot in Illinois for the Nov. 3 U.S. midterm elections, becoming the first pope to vote in a U.S. election. Catholic leaders and civic figures described his participation as an example of civic responsibility, while stressing that it should not be read as an endorsement of any candidate or party.
The Vatican confirmed that Leo had voted, saying he exercised his rights as a U.S. citizen whenever eligible. The Chicago-born pope retains U.S. citizenship as well as Peruvian citizenship.
Moral theologian Meghan J. Clark said Catholics have a moral obligation to participate in community political life by staying informed and voting. She described the pope’s action as “faithful citizenship” and said its significance extends beyond the United States, where free and fair elections are threatened in some parts of the world.
Kevin Appleby of the Center for Migration Studies said the vote underscored the importance of democratic participation and citizens’ ability to choose their leaders. He also said Leo’s use of a mail ballot could signal that absentee voting helps more citizens take part.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops does not endorse or oppose candidates, directing Catholics instead to Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship as a guide for making choices at the ballot box. The conference encourages eligible Catholics to vote with faith, human dignity and the common good in mind.
USCCB public affairs director Chieko Noguchi said the bishops’ emphasis is on helping Catholics inform their consciences, rather than on whom they vote for. Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, the conference president, had earlier described participation in public life—including voting—as both a right and a responsibility.
Clark cautioned against interpreting the pope’s vote as partisan or as a statement about current U.S. politics, noting that the Vatican said he had voted whenever eligible. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, meanwhile, used the news to encourage people to vote, writing: “If the Pope can vote all the way from Vatican City, you can too.”
The elections are set to determine control of Congress for the final two years of President Donald Trump’s second term. The article reported that seven Senate races remained within the margin of error, Democrats were expected to win a House majority, and a Nov. 1 New York Times/Siena poll showed Democratic candidates leading in five highlighted Senate battleground states, with a narrow edge in Alaska and a tie in Iowa.
A Pew survey cited in the article found that 42% of Catholic respondents said they would vote for the Democratic House candidate in their district, 39% for the Republican, and 19% were unsure or would choose another party. It also found a sharp divide between white and Hispanic Catholics in intended party support; a separate survey commissioned by Network described undecided Catholic voters as a swing bloc that reliably turns out to vote.
Catholic moral principles and responsible participation in democratic life
Catholic teaching calls you to participate actively and responsibly in democratic life—not because any party or political program embodies the Gospel, but because public choices affect human dignity and the common good. Catholics should bring a well-formed conscience to voting and other forms of civic engagement, uphold fundamental moral principles, and use prudential judgment where several morally acceptable policies may serve the same good. The Church offers moral guidance; it does not prescribe a single candidate or political platform.
Political life is one way citizens help shape the conditions in which people and communities live. The Church therefore regards civic involvement as more than voting: it includes contributing to public discussion, helping develop policy, serving in public life, and working with others for the common good. The US bishops connect this responsibility to baptism and to the dignity of the human person, while the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) describes active, responsible participation as essential to a productive democracy.
Catholic participation is not meant to be merely partisan or self-interested. Its purpose is to help promote goods such as peace, justice, freedom, protection of human life, care for the environment, and solidarity. The faithful exercise their particular responsibilities as laypeople by bringing Christian moral values into public life while respecting the proper autonomy of civic institutions and cooperating with fellow citizens.
The US bishops summarize the spirit of this participation as a call to politics attentive to moral principles, the needs of vulnerable people, and the common good rather than narrow interests. They also describe public service as a worthy vocation.
The US bishops identify four foundations of Catholic social teaching: the dignity of the human person, the common good, subsidiarity, and solidarity. These principles help Catholics assess policies, party platforms, and candidates’ promises and actions in light of the Gospel and the Church’s moral and social teaching.
In broad terms, these principles ask whether political choices respect each person’s worth; whether social conditions enable people and communities to flourish; whether decisions are made at an appropriate level, rather than unnecessarily displacing the responsibilities of families and local associations; and whether citizens recognize their duties toward one another, especially people who are vulnerable. In applying them, Catholics should consider a range of public concerns, not only one issue or interest. The CDF, for example, identifies protection of life, family, parental freedom in education, religious freedom, social justice, solidarity, subsidiarity, and peace among important moral concerns in political life.
These principles are not a party platform. Catholic social teaching is meant to guide moral judgment, not to function as an ideology that mechanically dictates one political program. The US bishops call the Church “principled but not ideological”; the CDF likewise recognizes that technical complexity and differing circumstances can allow for multiple legitimate political approaches.
A conscience is not simply personal preference or a feeling that a choice is right. Catholic participation calls for ongoing formation: learning the Church’s moral and social teaching, examining the facts and likely effects of political choices, and taking responsibility for one’s decisions. The bishops emphasize both the Church’s role in teaching moral principles and each Catholic’s responsibility to receive and act on that teaching in the lifelong formation of conscience.
Some questions involve moral principles that do not permit exceptions or compromise. The CDF specifically names laws concerning abortion and euthanasia and the protection of human life from conception to natural death, while distinguishing euthanasia from a morally legitimate decision to forgo extraordinary medical treatment. It also identifies the protection of the human embryo as a duty.
Other political decisions involve prudential judgment: the careful application of moral principles to complicated circumstances. Catholics may reasonably disagree about the best means of promoting a shared good because policies operate in different contexts, strategies may vary, and technical questions can be complex. The CDF states that the Church does not set out specific political solutions to temporal questions entrusted to people’s responsible judgment, though it has the right and duty to offer moral judgment when faith or moral law requires it.
This distinction matters. Legitimate disagreement about policy means is not the same as treating every moral principle as optional. Catholics may choose among parties and policies compatible with the faith and natural moral law; that freedom does not imply that every view of human dignity or the common good is equally true.
The bishops do not tell Catholics whom to support. Rather, they ask each person to make political choices in light of a properly formed conscience, and they caution against letting attachment to a party or interest group displace fundamental moral truths. A party label alone cannot settle whether a particular policy or candidate’s record serves the common good.
A responsible voter therefore weighs candidates’ promises and actions, the moral importance of the issues at stake, and the likely effects of proposed policies. This requires judgment rather than a simple formula: the supplied teaching establishes moral principles and recognizes plural legitimate policy options, but it does not provide a universal rule that identifies one party or candidate as the Catholic choice in every election.
Nor should Catholics assume that participation ends at the ballot box. The Church’s call includes sustained engagement in social, legislative, administrative, economic, and cultural life, with citizens contributing according to their competence and responsibilities.
Democracy requires room for differing views about how society should be organized. The Church recognizes this legitimate pluralism, including the possibility that Catholics may participate in different political parties. But pluralism should not become moral relativism—the claim that basic moral principles have no truth or binding force.
Catholic witness in political debate should combine clarity about moral principles with charity and justice in how one treats others. The bishops call for cooperation with others to advance moral goods and for a politics centered on the common good rather than narrow advantage. This approach rejects both silence about serious moral questions and the reduction of opponents to caricatures.
The practical aim is faithful citizenship: participate, form your conscience, apply enduring moral principles with care, and exercise prudential judgment where legitimate options differ. Catholics need not agree on every political strategy, but their engagement should be directed toward human dignity and the common good rather than party loyalty alone.