Will Pope Leo XIV Vote in US Elections and Pay US Taxes?

Pope Leo XIV. First Pope of the Catholic Church born in the United States.

Is the Pope still a US Citizen?

Short answer: yes.

For a natural-born citizen to lose their citizenship, they pretty much have to formally renounce it.

He is a naturalized citizen of Peru and the head of state of the Vatican. Both are potentially expatriating acts. According to the US State Department’s webpage on Accepting, Serving in, or Performing Duties of a Position with the Government of a Foreign State, those two acts are only expatriating if done voluntarily with the intention of relinquishing U.S. citizenship. In fact, that page even goes on to state that “the [State] Department has adopted an administrative presumption that U.S. nationals intend to retain their U.S. citizenship when they naturalize as nationals of a foreign state, declare their allegiance to a foreign state, or accept non-policy level employment with a foreign government.”

So, yeah, unless Pope Leo XIV renounced his citizenship, he’s still a citizen. And I’m pretty sure there’s be headlines if he did.

Further reading on this topic:

• Relinquishing U.S. Nationality (US Department of State)
• Renounce or lose your citizenship (USA.gov)

Can the Pope vote in US Elections?

The short answer is, once again, yes.

In fact, he’s still registered to vote in Illinois under Robert Prevost. In fact, if you know enough, you can head on to Illinois’ Registration Lookup you can find his voter registration status, including his voting location.

He’s probably voting absentee, and not in person, though.

Further reading on this topic:

• Pope Leo XIV voted in 2024 U.S. general election — here’s which primaries he’s voted in (CBS News)

Does the Pope have to pay US taxes?

Maybe.

US citizens living abroad “generally are required to file income tax returns, estate tax returns, and gift tax returns and pay estimated tax in the same way as those residing in the United States” according to the IRS.

The Pope does have a salary - about $33,000 a month, or $396,000 a year - although the previous Pope, Pope Francis, famously did not take a salary.

A single (not married) US citizen over the age of 65 living abroad must file if their income exceeds $16,550 (at least for 2024).

Pope Leo XIV, being born in 1955, will be 70 in 2025. $396,000 is also more than $16,550. So he most likely has to file (although I suspect the Vatican will provide someone to do the paperwork for him).

As for if he has to pay taxes in addition to filing - according to publication 54 “up to $126,500 of [foreign] earned income [is] not taxable by the United States”.

So $126,500 of the $396,000 wouldn’t be taxes - bringing the taxable income down to $269,500. Assuming there’s nothing else to deduct, that puts the Pope in the highest tax bracket for 2025 - 35% for incomes over $250,525. Of course, that doesn’t mean that he’d pay 35% of $269,500. The actual rate is closer to 25% after combining the various tax brackets.

It would be interesting to see the Pope’s tax return. Do you think he’d release his tax return? I doubt it, but who knows.