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Why Pope Leo’s US midterm vote is making history · INSIGHT TODAY

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  Speaker 1: For the first time ever, a pope has voted in
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  Speaker 1: a U.S. election, and it's likely the first time that
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  Speaker 1: a pope has ever voted in a secular election. Pope
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  Speaker 1: Leo submitted his Chicago mail-in ballot, the Vatican releasing a
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  Speaker 1: statement about the historic vote saying the Holy Father expresses
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  Speaker 1: his belief in the right and the duty of citizens
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  Speaker 1: to participate in democratic processes. CNN Vatican correspondent Christopher Lam
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  Speaker 1: is joining us now from Rome. All right, Christopher, what
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  Speaker 1: are the details here?
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  Speaker 2: Well, Brianna, this news coming is a bit of a
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  Speaker 2: surprise to some in the Vatican because, of course, popes
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  Speaker 2: in the past, whilst having the right to vote in elections,
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  Speaker 2: haven't normally done that or haven't done that. Of course,
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  Speaker 2: the pope is a head of state as well as
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  Speaker 2: being the leader of a church. And some felt that
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  Speaker 2: being a head of state, you shouldn't necessarily vote in
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  Speaker 2: a national election. But Pope Leo, I think, here leading
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  Speaker 2: by example in sending a message that to his home
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  Speaker 2: country about the importance of people voting. Leo trying to
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  Speaker 2: show his support, I think, for the democratic process, for democracy.
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  Speaker 2: We do know that in the past, Leo has voted
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  Speaker 2: in Democrat and Republican primaries in his home state of Illinois.
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  Speaker 2: We know he voted or cast a vote in the
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  Speaker 2: 2024 presidential election. And this news from the Vatican confirming
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  Speaker 2: he is voting by mail in the midterms. I think
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  Speaker 2: a strong message being sent by the Pope and surprising
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  Speaker 2: a number inside the church at very high levels.
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  Speaker 3: Pope Leo is making history and not from the Vatican,
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  Speaker 3: but through a mailbox in suburban Chicago. As first reported
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  Speaker 3: by the Chicago Sun-Times, officials in Will County, Illinois, confirmed
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  Speaker 3: the pontiff requested a mail ballot for next Tuesday's midterms
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  Speaker 3: under his birth name. Robert Francis Prevost. Now, that makes
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  Speaker 3: him the first pope in the entire 2000 years of
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  Speaker 3: the Catholic Church to vote in a secular election. Joining
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  Speaker 3: me now, Christopher Hale, author of the Substack Letters from Leo,
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  Speaker 3: to help us understand how this works. Can you talk
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  Speaker 3: about sort of the decision to do it? Because Basically,
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  Speaker 3: you were reporting that, you know, his brother met with
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  Speaker 3: the pope in St. Peter's Square a few days ago.
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  Speaker 3: But how did we get from there to maybe we
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  Speaker 3: should vote?
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  Speaker 4: You know, it's interesting. He did not decide to vote
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  Speaker 4: in the primary in March. We reached out to Will
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  Speaker 4: County at the time, and he didn't participate. And so
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  Speaker 4: we were surprised. His predecessors did not vote, even though
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  Speaker 4: they had the opportunity. Pope Francis was eligible to vote
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  Speaker 4: in Argentina. Pope Benedict was eligible to vote in Germany.
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  Speaker 4: They both declined to do so. So what we understand
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  Speaker 4: is on October 3rd, a somewhat close election, to Pope
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  Speaker 4: Leo XIV requested that a mail-in ballot be sent to
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  Speaker 4: Pope Leo's brother's house, John. And so it was mailed
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  Speaker 4: to John Pravos' house the week of October 3rd. And
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  Speaker 4: Pravos goes to see his brother in the Vatican on Wednesday.
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  Speaker 4: So my presumption is perhaps traveling with him on that
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  Speaker 4: United flight to Rome was in fact that ballot. And
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  Speaker 4: maybe he's carrying it back with him. But It has
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  Speaker 4: not been returned yet. We should note that it has
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  Speaker 4: not actually made it back to the Will County Board
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  Speaker 4: of Elections at this point in time.
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  Speaker 3: I think of the pope not just head of the church,
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  Speaker 3: but the head of state.
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  Speaker 1: Right.
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  Speaker 3: Like he usually you're neutral or you abstain. You do
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  Speaker 3: not get involved in secular elections, whether you're the pope
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  Speaker 3: or not. That's not a thing. So how is it
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  Speaker 3: being talked about in the Vatican?
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  Speaker 4: There's definitely a dual opinion. Most Americans, I think, are
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  Speaker 4: quite excited that Leo XIV is participating in our midterms process.
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  Speaker 4: It's actually exciting to see the ballot that he would
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  Speaker 4: participate in. But there's some in the church, not just
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  Speaker 4: the left or the right, who are concerned about Leo
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  Speaker 4: perhaps debasing the papal office. It is both a spiritual office,
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  Speaker 4: as you said, but there's also a temporal authority. He
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  Speaker 4: is the head of state, the head of the Holy See.
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  Speaker 4: And so there is concerns about him submitting himself to
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  Speaker 4: a Democratic electorate. Here's what he would say, though, Adi.
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  Speaker 4: I think he would say that Pope Leo XIV is
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  Speaker 4: not participating in this election, that Robert Prebost is participating
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  Speaker 4: in this election. He was famously asked who he would
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  Speaker 4: be rooting for in the World Cup. And he made
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  Speaker 4: a distinction between who Pope Leo would be rooting for, everyone,
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  Speaker 4: and who Robert Prebost would be rooting for. But there's
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  Speaker 4: definitely some detractors. And here's something I have been working
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  Speaker 4: on at this point. I think there is going to
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  Speaker 4: be a challenge, perhaps a legal challenge raised here in
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  Speaker 4: the United States about whether or not Leah the 14th
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  Speaker 4: is eligible in this election. So I don't think this
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  Speaker 4: story is done yet.
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  Speaker 3: You talked about him voting as Robert Prevost. So then
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  Speaker 3: let's look at that record. He voted in Democratic primaries
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  Speaker 3: in 2008 and 2010. He voted in Republican primaries in 2012. 2014,
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  Speaker 3: and 2016. Is he the elusive swing voter? What's your
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  Speaker 3: sense of where the Pope is now?
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  Speaker 4: Well, let's just give two examples. Obviously, the past year,
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  Speaker 4: he has been very critical of the Trump administration. They've
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  Speaker 4: been really in an 18-month fight. But he's disagreed with
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  Speaker 4: the left as well, including his own governor. Governor Pritzker
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  Speaker 4: came to Rome last October, and they had a discussion
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  Speaker 4: about sister suicides. And that law passed in Illinois and
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  Speaker 4: Pope Leo XIV expressed concern with that. But he also
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  Speaker 4: his only time we really see a history in Illinois
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  Speaker 4: politics is he was really excited when the former governor,
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  Speaker 4: Pat Quinn, overturned the death penalty. He actually wrote an
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  Speaker 4: email like on the submit letter to the governor with
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  Speaker 4: all caps. So we don't know. He is the elusive
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  Speaker 4: swing voter. I got to say, though, I don't think
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  Speaker 4: he's going to be participating in straight ticket voting among Republicans.
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  Speaker 4: I think that's fair to say.
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  Speaker 3: I just want to play one sample just as you
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  Speaker 3: talked about that. This was Pope Leo in early October
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  Speaker 3: talking about the death penalty.
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  Speaker 5: It's important to look at many issues that are related
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  Speaker 5: to what is the teaching of the church. Someone who
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  Speaker 5: says I'm against abortion but says I'm in favor of
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  Speaker 5: the death penalty is not really pro-life. So someone who
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  Speaker 5: says that I'm against abortion, but I'm in agreement with
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  Speaker 5: the inhuman treatment of immigrants from the United States, I
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  Speaker 5: don't know if that's pro-life.
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  Speaker 3: I think for a long time in politics, the idea
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  Speaker 3: of the Vatican and the Pope weighing in some way,
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  Speaker 3: it was a faraway thing. There's a person over there
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  Speaker 3: maybe who has some thoughts. Maybe that would affect voters
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  Speaker 3: here of that same faith. And I know you are
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  Speaker 3: a Pope fan. You know what I mean? But there's
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  Speaker 3: also a conservative part of the Catholic community that does
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  Speaker 3: not like the way they see the politics playing out
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  Speaker 3: from this Pope. And will this play into that?
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  Speaker 4: I think it will in some capacity. The Pope's been
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  Speaker 4: very clear. He only weighs in on political issues if
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  Speaker 4: they first and foremost are moral issues, more issues at
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  Speaker 4: the heart of the gospel, at the heart of Jesus's ministry.
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  Speaker 4: And so life and death obviously is at that core
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  Speaker 4: of that ministry. But I think Leo XIV has said
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  Speaker 4: very clearly he acts as a minister. He acts as
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  Speaker 4: a priest and a bishop, not as a politician. So
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  Speaker 4: I think his participation in this election is, should not
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  Speaker 4: be seen as him debasing his office. I think it
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  Speaker 4: should be him exercising his right, his duty as a citizen.
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  Speaker 4: The Catholic Church says that Catholics have a duty and
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  Speaker 4: an obligation to vote, and he's exemplifying that here. So
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  Speaker 4: I think American Catholics should be proud of him for participating.
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  Speaker 4: I think it should also encourage us to participate in
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  Speaker 4: democracy's most sacred act.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, Christopher Hale, thanks so much.