Pope Leo at war with Elon Musk as trillionaire status will be ‘only thing of value’

Pope Leo has given his first interview since being elected as pontiff in May and has expressed his concerns about the ever-widening gap between the rich and poor

Pope Leo has gone to war with tech lord Elon Musk over his potential ascent to trillionaire status. The Catholic Church’s leader voiced his worries about society losing sight of “the value of human life, of the family, and the value of society”, attributing this shift in part to the growing wealth disparity.

In his inaugural interview since his election as Pope in May – featured on the Crux website – he remarked: “For example, CEOs that 60 years ago might have been making four to six times more than what the workers are receiving, the last figure I saw, it’s 600 times more than what average workers are receiving.”

Upon hearing that “Elon Musk is going to be the first trillionaire in the world“, Pope Leo questioned: “What does that mean and what’s that about? If that is the only thing that has value any more, then we’re in big trouble.”

The Pope, who marked his 70th birthday on Sunday, acknowledged he has “a steep learning curve ahead” as he adjusts to his new role following the death of his predecessor Pope Francis in April.

He noted: “The totally new aspect to the job is being thrown onto the level of world leader.

“It’s very public, people know the phone conversations or meetings I’ve had with the heads of state of a number of different governments, countries around the world, in a time when the voice of the church has a significant role to play.”

The Pope went on to say: “I am learning a lot about how the Holy See has had a role in the diplomatic world for many years… Those things are all new to me in any sense of hands-on. I’ve followed current affairs for many, many years. I’ve always tried to stay up on the news, but the role of pope is certainly new to me.

“I’m learning a lot and feeling very challenged, but not overwhelmed. I had to dive headfirst into the deep end rather swiftly.”

The pontiff – the first ever to originate from the US – also reminisced about his childhood squabbles with his mother over their favourite baseball teams, which taught him the value of “open” dialogue.

He shared: “We learnt, even in sports, to have an open, dialogical, friendly, and not angry competitive stance on things like that, because we might not have gotten dinner had we been.”

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