- Pope Leo XIV sounded the alarm over the growing wealth inequality between CEOs and workers—and he singled out Elon Musk’s path to trillionaire status. In one of first formal interviews after being named pontiff last year, Pope Leo said soaring executive paychecks may be putting the world in “big trouble.” This came as a report warned that many billionaire signers of the Giving Pledge, founded by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda French Gates, are behind in their philanthropy promises.
If Pope Leo XIV had a seat on Tesla’s board, Elon Musk’s $1 trillion pay package would have been dead on arrival.
The 70-year-old pontiff slammed the widening income gap between the working class and the wealthy, specifically calling out the Tesla CEO as an egregious example of executive excess.
“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 told Catholic news site Crux in a September 2025 interview. “The news that Elon Musk is going to be the first trillionaire in the world: What does that mean and what’s that about?”
He continued, “If that is the only thing that has value anymore, then we’re in big trouble.”
The pope’s critique came in September 2025 as Tesla’s board approved a $1 trillion pay package for Musk—contingent on his ability to grow the electric-vehicle company eightfold over the next decade.
While Pope Leo is entitled to an over $400,000 yearly salary, on par with U.S. presidents and university chancellors, his concerns reflect broader anxiety about executive compensation. Among the 100 S&P 500 corporations with the lowest median worker pay, the average CEO compensation hit $17.2 million in 2024 as compared to an average median worker pay of $35,570, according to the Institute for Policy Studies. That’s a ratio of 632 to 1.
Billionaires’ wealth is booming—but their philanthropic giving isn’t
While everyday workers continue to struggle with inflation, wage stagnation, and a tightening job market, the wealth of the ultrarich soars. Billionaire wealth increased three times faster in 2024 than it did in 2023, according to Oxfam. And over the last decade, the top 1% increased their wealth by nearly $34 trillion—enough to eliminate annual poverty 22 times over at the highest poverty line.
Last year, Larry Ellison broke the record for the biggest one-day increase ever recorded in the history of Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index—with his net worth soaring $89 billion thanks to his tech firm Oracle’s rapid growth. At time of publication, Ellison’s net worth sits at $230 billion.
At the same time, many billionaires are behind on their pledges to give away their money through the Giving Pledge—the commitment launched in 2010 by Warren Buffett as well as Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates to give away at least 50% of their wealth to philanthropy during their lifetimes or in their wills.
Among the 256 signers, just nine have followed through with the pact. And even among those who donate, the money has been largely given to intermediaries, according to the Institute for Policy Studies. Of an estimated $206 billion donated by the original 2010 pledgers, roughly 80%, or $164 billion, has gone into private foundations.
And while the Giving Pledge told Fortune the IPS report “paints a misleading picture of the impact and intent of Giving Pledge signatories and the spirit and intent of the Giving Pledge,” the organization admitted important questions remain that aim to “encourage greater giving.”
A version of this story originally published on Fortune.com on Sept. 15, 2025.
More on wealth
- Warren Buffett says ‘accumulating great amounts of money’ doesn’t achieve greatness—He still lives in a $31,500 Nebraska home and clipped coupons.
- The world’s wealthiest families adopt these 7 key habits for success, according to JPMorgan.
- Steve Jobs didn’t actually become a billionaire thanks to leading Apple—but rather from his work with a film company he bought off George Lucas.
