The world’s leading Christian figure, Pope Leo, has expressed his concern over the wealth amassed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. He has stated that the rapid growth of Musk’s wealth is worrying. Leo suggests that the increasing wealth of individuals like Musk could contribute to global difficulties.
In an interview, published on the Catholic news website Crux, Pope Leo discussed his worries, highlighting the increasing salaries of company CEOs when compared to those of the workforce and employees.
Pope Leo noted that the difference between employee and CEO salaries was just six times 60 years ago, whereas it has now increased to 600 times. He also expressed his concern about Elon Musk potentially becoming a trillionaire in the coming years, emphasizing the need to address this issue.
Leo believes that the deteriorating corporate landscape and the concentration of wealth within a small group could potentially lead to new conflicts worldwide.
He pointed out that while the salaries of laborers are continuously decreasing, the compensation of CEOs and top executives continues to increase. Forbes estimates that Elon Musk’s current wealth is $463.2 billion.
According to a March 2025 report by OXFAM, CEO salaries increased by an average of 50 percent in 2024 compared to 2019. In contrast, employee salaries saw a minimal increase of 0.9 percent during this time.
The disparity in salary increases between CEOs and employees has been significant in countries like India, the United States, the United Kingdom, and many European nations. Pope Leo’s perspective on this matter is, therefore, considered significant.
According to Amnesty International, protests were held in 148 out of 193 countries worldwide in 2022 due to rising costs of food, energy, and living. In Nepal and Bangladesh, Generation Z was a key participant in such protests.
