The problem isn’t that the pope voted

Pope Leo XIV has become the first pope known to vote in a U.S. general election. The Vatican confirmed that the Chicago-born pontiff submitted a mail-in ballot for the midterm elections in Illinois, invoking the right and duty of citizens to participate in democracy. There is no apparent legal violation, and no reason to question his motives. He is an American citizen, and he voted as one.

The interesting question is not why Leo voted. It is what his vote reveals about a citizenship system that accommodates Americans exercising governmental authority for other sovereign states, sometimes in offices whose duties may conflict with their obligations under U.S. law.