Rob Lackenby @butsurelynot

BREAKING: BLUE TSUNAMI! Pope Leo XIV casts his vote in the midterm elections, making him the first pontiff in history to do so! And it gets even better... “The Holy Father expresses his belief in the right and the duty of citizens to participate in democratic processes,” stated the Vatican, adding that Leo “has exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen, whenever he was eligible to do so," including during his time as a missionary in Peru. The pope — the first American to hold the Chair of Saint Peter — was registered to vote under his birth name Robert Prevost and cast a mail-in ballot, citing an address in New Lenox, Illinois. Leo has voted in Republican primaries in the past as well as in Democratic ones. While the Church's stance on abortion is presumably what tilted him Republican in the past, the relatively sane conservative party of the pre-MAGA days is long gone. It seems exceedingly unlikely that he's voting red this time around. Leo has become one of the Trump administration's fiercest, most prominent critics. He has repeatedly slammed the White House's brutal and cruel treatment of migrants as well as its illegal Iran War. “I’m not a big fan of Pope Leo,” Trump previously said. He absurdly accused the Vicar of Christ of being "WEAK on crime" and "terrible for foreign policy" while simultaneously claiming personal responsibility for his papacy. While we will likely never find out for certain who Leo voted for (we'd put good money on JB Pritzker given his bold opposition to the fascist MAGA movement), the pope's example of civic engagement should be an inspiration to us all. If he can find the time to vote while running the oldest and largest religious institution in the world, the rest of us can carve out some time to cast our ballots. Please ❤️ and share to thank Pope Leo!