CBS News reported that Pope Leo XIV submitted a mail-in ballot in his native Chicago ahead of the midterm elections next week, according to the Vatican. The Vatican said the pope exercised his right as a U.S. citizen when he cast the ballot.
ABC News reported that Pope Leo XIV has become the "first pope in history to vote in a US election." The report, as summarized, frames the development as a matter of historical record and does not describe how or where the vote was cast.
The two reports agree on the central fact that the pope voted in a U.S. election, but they differ in detail. CBS News named the method, a mail-in ballot, and the city, Chicago, while the ABC News summary addresses neither point. Neither report, as summarized, identifies the race or candidates on the ballot. Taken together, the two accounts describe one event, with CBS News providing the additional details.
CBS News also tied the ballot to the calendar, saying it was submitted ahead of midterm elections that it described as taking place next week. The summaries do not say when the ballot was submitted, when it was received, or how it will be counted.
The Vatican's account, as CBS News relayed it, presents the vote as the exercise of a civic right held by the pope as a citizen of the United States. Neither summary includes further comment from the Vatican, from election officials, or from the pope himself.
Sources: ABC News: Pope Leo XIV has become the first pope in history to vote in a US election; CBS News: Pope Leo becomes first pontiff to vote in a U.S. election.