While scrolling through X last night, a tweet went by me so fast that I was able to skim it but I lost track of it. Essentially, the question that is apparently going around on that social networking platform is this: now that he is pope, Pope Leo XIV, will the former Robert Francis Prevost, the first American pope, lose his American citizenship?
It seems like a silly question and that’s because our citizenship is, for the moment, granted to us upon birth and the only person who can take that away is ourselves. Yes, you can voluntarily give up your citizenship. Anyway, the question is whether not his citizenship can be taken away as he now holds the highest office in the most populated religion in the world.
The first question is: is he in violation of the Title of Nobility Act, which forbids an American citizen to take upon themselves a noble title? That essentially means that I can’t, for example, become King of The Netherlands and expect to remain an American citizen. Well, the quick answer is no, because he can’t violate something that does not exist yet.
The first thing to understand that is that TONA isn’t final. As of right now, it is a proposed amendment to the Constitution and has not been adopted or ratified. A total of 38 states must ratify a proposed amendment before it becomes law.
“If any citizen of the United States shall accept, claim, receive or retain, any title of nobility or honour, or shall, without the consent of Congress, accept and retain any present, pension, office or emolument of any kind whatever, from any emperor, king, prince or foreign power, such person shall cease to be a citizen of the United States, and shall be incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under them, or either of them.”
Poor spelling and grammar has been left intact to show how illiterate our early government was.
Maryland, Kentucky, Ohio, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Vermont, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Massachusetts and New Hampshire all ratified this proposed amendment between 1810 and 1812. For those who are keeping count, that’s 12 states.
That means that 26 more states must ratify it. But count New Jersey, Virginia, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island out; they all rejected it.
Apparently, there was some initial concern that this proposal had actually become law by becoming the Constitution’s 13th Amendment. Not so! It was printed as such in error in some early printings.
Congress did not set an expiration date and as such, the matter is still before the states to this very day, which means that if the remaining states were to hold elections and ratify it, we’d have ourselves another amendment.
Clearly, the whole matter remains in limbo and the issue will probably never come up again given how much time has passed. But in theory, the remaining 21 states could hold elections and ratify TONA and that would make it the law of the land.
The proposed penalty for one’s acceptance of a title of nobility or honor is the revocation of that person’s American citizenship.
So the question is: is the office of pope (which is officially the title of Bishop of Rome) a title of nobility or honor? It could very well be and that could be a problem. The Vatican is its own country, making it a foreign power, and it has bestowed upon Leo a title that one could argue is a noble one and is full of honor.
It is a great honor to lead the world’s only true and most powerful religion and he does indeed lead. He leads the Holy See and the Vatican and that makes him most certainly a foreign power.
The whole subject matter is one of debate and contention, with some claiming that Leo is a religious leader and as such, his title would not strip him of his citizenship if TONA has actually become law.
Because TONA is not the law yet, arguing that point is rather moot, but I included it in this article as it’s an interesting theory: an American citizen has never been pope before, so could his removal happen?
It is interesting to note that the State Department has a page on its website that discusses this very matter and the page precedes Leo:
“…in general, the Department will only actively review cases in which a U.S. national is elected or otherwise appointed to serve as a foreign head of state, foreign head of government, or foreign minister. Such cases raise complex questions of international law, including issues related to the level of immunity from U.S. jurisdiction that the person so serving may be afforded. All such cases should be referred to the Office of the Assistant Legal Adviser for Consular Affairs.”
Leo is absolutely a head of state and a head of government. So, as that passage points out, this matter could in theory wind up on the desk of the Assistant Legal Adviser for Consular Affairs. And some, myself included, could argue that there is no need for debate.
The media, as you might imagine, has become enthralled with the notion that the pope could lose his birthright citizenshp.
Pope Leo was absolutely elected to become a head of state and a head of government. To me, this is an open and shut case. I’m not trying to disrespect the pope of all people, but it’s all there in black and white. The only roadblock is the fact that that amendment is not law and it probably will never be so.
This website points out that there are several ways one could lose his US citizenship. The relevant points are this:
- Run for public office in a foreign country (under certain conditions)
- Enter military service in a foreign country (under certain conditions)
- Apply for citizenship in a foreign country with the intention of giving up U.S. citizenship
- Commit an act of treason against the United States
- Are a naturalized U.S. citizen who faces denaturalization due to committing certain crimes
Did he run for public office? I would argue yes, but the argument could also be made that he did not actually run, but was instead nominated by his fellow cardinals.
He did not enter military service, so that one’s out. He applied for and obtained citizenship in Peru, so there’s another yes. He has not committed treason and, hopefully, did not commit crimes in the time that he was with us here in the States.
Even absent the TONA, Leo could still lose his US citizenship and it seems as though there is a way to proceed with his expulsion. The method by which he’d be removed as a citizen, if at all, remains unclear, so it’ll be interesting to sit back and watch this from a scholarly point of view.
I think it’ll boil down to what the State Department does or does not do. Either way, through action or inaction, history is being made before our very eyes.