Pope Leo is worried about Elon Musk becoming a trillionaire

In his first interview since being elected as pontiff in May - published on the website Crux - the Pope said: "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."

Revealing how he heard that "Elon Musk is going to be the first trillioniare in the world", Pope Leo added: "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."

Meanwhile, the pontiff - who celebrated his 70th birthday on Sunday (14.09.25) - explained that he has "a huge learning curve ahead" as he settles into the papalcy following the passing of his predecessor Pope Francis in April.

He said: "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 continued: "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 jump in the deep end of the pool very quickly."

The pontiff - the first pope to hail from the US - also recalled how he and his mother used to have arguments about their favourite baseball teams when he was a child, which made him realise the importance of "open" dialogue.

He said: "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."