Pope Leo XIV said he was “proud to be an American” after casting a mail-in ballot in the U.S. midterm elections, while also describing his recovery from lung cancer surgery as he began a 12-day journey through South America.
The pope made the remarks Nov. 6 while traveling to Uruguay, the first stop on an apostolic journey that will also take him to Argentina and Peru. Asked about his ballot, Leo referred reporters to an earlier statement from the Holy See Press Office, then said he was “proud to be an American and to exercise the right” to vote.
The Vatican said Oct. 30 that Leo, who was born Robert Prevost in Chicago, had submitted his ballot there. The statement said he had exercised his voting rights “whenever he was eligible to do so” and described participation in democratic processes as both a right and a duty. It also said Leo had voted while living in Peru when local rules allowed it. The ballot was cast before the Nov. 3 elections, which resulted in Democrats taking control of Congress.
The voting disclosure made Leo the first known sitting pope to participate in a U.S. election. His American citizenship remains separate from his role as head of the Holy See, and the Vatican identified him in the statement as Pope Leo XIV rather than by his former name.
Leo’s comments came less than a month after doctors removed the lower lobe of his right lung at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital. According to the Holy See’s account of the Oct. 13 operation, testing confirmed lung adenocarcinoma. The surgery lasted about 90 minutes and was completed without complications.
Follow-up testing found that the disease was localized and that no additional cancer treatment was needed, the Vatican reported in a statement from the pope’s doctors. A later medical assessment cleared him to travel. On the plane, Leo credited God, his doctors and surgeons, a healthy lifestyle and routine checkups for his recovery, saying early detection was “obviously the best way to go.”
The trip, scheduled for Nov. 6-17, includes visits to Montevideo, Paysandú and Florida in Uruguay; Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Luján in Argentina; and Lima, Chiclayo, Cusco and Pucallpa in Peru, according to the Vatican’s published itinerary. The Vatican has also said Leo plans to meet survivors of clergy sexual abuse during the journey.