Ideas

JOLIET, Ill. — Pope Leo XIV, registered to vote in New Lenox, Illinois under his birth name Robert Francis Prevost, asked for a mail ballot on Oct. 3. The Will County clerk's office confirmed the request to the Chicago Sun-Times, which reported it Oct. 29. If he votes in the Nov. 3 midterms, he would apparently be the first pope known to vote in a secular election. Officials say any registered Illinois voter may vote by mail, and federal law also covers citizens living abroad. Newsweek reports that the ballot lists the U.S. Senate race to replace Dick Durbin and Gov. JB Pritzker's re-election bid. County records show he has voted in both parties' primaries in the past. Neither the Vatican nor his family has said whether he has completed and returned the ballot. The Catholic commentator Christopher Hale first broke the story on his own newsletter.

LONDON — Fr Bashar Fawadleh, the Latin Catholic parish priest of Taybeh, north of Jerusalem, is visiting London. He says the village, described as the last Christian village in the West Bank, is losing residents to attacks by Israeli settlers. Over three years, 16 families, about 75 people, and dozens of individuals have left, at least 10 percent of roughly 1,200 residents. He says settlers have targeted olive harvesters, set vehicles on fire and cut off access to farmland. On Oct. 16, masked assailants reportedly attacked residents and a visiting European diplomatic delegation. He also says an Israeli army closed-military-zone order, which the army says is meant to protect residents, leaves people struggling to move around. Fawadleh says Taybeh seeks "basic human rights," not privileges. The claims are his and the accounts of local church leaders. The Israeli government has previously said that civilian violence is unacceptable.