Pope Leo, the foremost leader of the Christian faith, has voiced his concerns about the escalating wealth of Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk. He stated that the speed at which Musk’s fortune is growing is alarming. Leo believes that the accumulation of wealth by individuals like Musk could contribute to global challenges.
These remarks were made by Leo during an interview published on the Catholic news platform, Crux. The interview indicates that Pope Leo is particularly troubled by the increasing salaries of company executives compared to the wages of the workforce.
Pope Leo pointed out that the salary disparity between employees and CEOs was sixfold 60 years ago, but it has now expanded to 600 times. He also mentioned the potential for Elon Musk to become a trillionaire, expressing his concern and the need for attention to this matter.
Leo suggests that the current corporate trends and the concentration of wealth in the hands of a select few could potentially ignite conflicts globally.
He highlighted that while the salaries of laborers continue to decline, the remuneration of CEOs and top-level executives is on the rise. Forbes estimates Elon Musk’s current wealth to be $463.2 billion.
The OXFAM report from March 2025 revealed that CEO salaries saw an average increase of 50% from 2019 to 2024, while employee salaries only saw a marginal rise of 0.9% during the same period.
A substantial gap in salary increases between CEOs and employees has been observed in numerous countries, including India, the United States, the United Kingdom, and several European nations. Therefore, Pope Leo’s stance on this issue is seen as highly significant.
According to Amnesty International, 148 out of 193 countries worldwide witnessed protests in 2022 due to the rising costs of food, energy, and general living expenses. Generation Z was actively involved in such protests in Nepal and Bangladesh.