Pope Leo XIV has criticized corporate pay packages that award executives vastly higher pay than rank-and-file workers, singling out Tesla‘s proposed near $1 trillion compensation plan for CEO Elon Musk.
Why It Matters
Speaking about the news that Elon Musk could become the first trillionaire in the world—if Tesla shareholders approve a new compensation plan and he meets aggressive company goals over the next decade—Leo said: “What does that mean and what’s that about?”
The pope’s remarks, published in excerpts of his first media interview, sharpen a moral critique of widening executive-to-worker pay ratios at a time when Tesla shareholders are weighing an unprecedented pay package that could make Musk the world’s first trillionaire if its goals are met—a development that proponents say would incentivize bold innovation and critics say would deepen inequality.
Newsweek has contacted Tesla via email for comment.
AP
What To Know
Leo was discussing the “value of human life, of the family, and the value of society.”
He said there were multiple factors contributing to losing this, but said one “very significant” issue is “the continuously wider gap between the income levels of the working class and the money that the wealthiest receive.”
“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,” he continued.
“Yesterday, the news that Elon Musk is going to be the first trillionaire in the world. What does that mean and what’s that about? If that is the only thing that has value anymore, then we’re in big trouble.”
Tesla’s board last week announced a proposal that would award Musk hundreds of millions of Tesla shares if he drives the company’s market value to $8.5 trillion, a figure that exceeds the current combined market caps of Meta, Microsoft and Alphabet.
If the compensation plan is approved and the targets are met, Musk would receive an additional 423.7 million Tesla shares, potentially adding $900 billion to his current net worth, according to Time.
That would make him the highest-paid executive in history and the first person to surpass the 13-digit mark in personal wealth.
Musk currently holds a 19.7 percent stake in Tesla and owns substantial shares in SpaceX and xAI.
However, his brief tenure as head of the Department of Government Efficiency in President Donald Trump‘s second administration, as well as his subsequent clashes with the latter, have contributed to a decline in Tesla’s profits in 2025, particularly in European sales.
What People Are Saying
Pope Leo XIV said in an interview with The Crux: “I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but I certainly see the reality in some of the results…Perhaps in some places the loss of a higher sense of what human life is about would have something to do with that, which has affected people on many levels.”
Tesla board members Robyn Denholm and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson wrote in a letter to shareholders: “Retaining and incentivizing Elon is fundamental to Tesla achieving these goals and becoming the most valuable company in history.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, during a conference call in April, said he was “extremely optimistic about the future of the company,” which will be “fundamentally based on large-scale autonomous cars and large-scale—being large volume—vast numbers of autonomous humanoid robots…
“I continue to believe that Tesla, with excellent execution, will be the most valuable company in the world by far.”
What Happens Next
The immediate, verifiable next step is a shareholder vote on Tesla’s compensation plan at the company’s annual meeting on November 6. If approved, the plan would legally condition large stock awards on meeting the stated performance goals.
Leo’s comments contribute to broader public scrutiny that could influence corporate governance debates, investor discussions and political responses, but the specific policy outcomes from his remarks are uncertain. The interview excerpts are part of a forthcoming biography.
