Weeks after now-former Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected the first US-born pope, speculation about his political leanings and affiliations continues to spread online.
Some commentators are purporting that voting records show Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, is formally affiliated to the US Republican Party.
Pro-Trump influencer Charlie Kirk first planted the theory an hour after white smoke billowed from the Sistine Chapel on 8 May, indicating Pope Leo XIV's election by the papal conclave.
In a post on X, Kirk said: "Our Turning Point Action team pulled the voting history for Pope Leo XIV. He's a registered Republican who has voted in Republican primaries when not living abroad. Our data shows he's a strong Republican, and he's pro-life."
The post is accompanied by a screenshot claiming to be Prevost's voting card.
Prevost's name, age and date of birth are correctly displayed. The word "Republican" also appears next to "party".
But the state of Illinois does not register voters by political party affiliation, according to judicial advocacy group Alliance for Justice.
It means this cannot be an authentic voting card as the state does not register voters as either Republican or Democrat.
In other US states, voters do declare party affiliation when registering to vote, and this sometimes determines in which primary elections voters can cast their ballots.
Primary elections, or primaries, are ballots that political parties in the US use to select candidates for a general election. Voters can chose in which party's primary they want to vote.
Hoewever, state voting records shared with Euroverify by the office of the attorney general of Will County, Illinois, show that Prevost did vote in three Republican primary elections in 2012, 2014 and 2016.
Voters in the state are, however, not bound to pick the same party's primary from year to year.
Therefore this is not conclusive proof that Prevost is affiliated to the Republican party.
Prevost's party affiliation is also registered as "undeclared" in general elections between 2012 and 2024.
According to Reuters, citing a public information officer for the Illinois state elections board, Prevost had requested ballots for the 2008 and 2010 Democratic primaries when registered to vote in Cook County, Illinois. Euroverify was unable to independently fact check this information.
Social media users have also been searching for signs of Prevost's political leanings in content shared by him online prior to his election as pope.
Months before his election, he shared an article published by the National Catholic Reporter criticising comments made by JD Vance.
The article, titled "JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others", blasts a comment made by the US vice president during a Fox News interview, suggesting that Christians should prioritise love for their "fellow citizens" and "own country" over "the rest of the world."
In April, he also shared a post critical of US President Donald Trump's immigration policies, specifically the controversial decision to deport Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador, which has been described by Supreme Court judges as "an error."
