Pope Leo criticizes high corporate salaries, mentions Elon Musk

(Patria) - In excerpts from his first media interview published on Sunday, Pope Leo criticized corporate salary packages that offer executives much higher pay than their employees, citing Tesla's recent trillion-dollar compensation plan for CEO Elon Musk, Reuters reported.

Leo, a native of Chicago, also spoke about the United Nations, his decades of work as a missionary in Peru, how he is adapting to the role of pope, and his hopes for peace in the bloody, three-year conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

He showed a more reserved style than his predecessor Pope Francis, who often gave interviews, and prefers to speak from prepared texts.

The Sunday excerpts were published on the Catholic news site Crux.

"CEOs who sixty years ago might have earned four to six times what workers receive... now earn 600 times more," he said in the interview, conducted in late July for an upcoming biography.

"Yesterday there was news that Elon Musk will be the world's first trillionaire," he said.

"What does that mean and what is it about? If that is the only thing that still has value, then we are in big trouble."

Leo, elected by the world's cardinals in May as the first American pope to succeed Francis, criticized the United Nations for being unable to foster effective multilateral diplomacy.

"The United Nations should be a place where many... issues are resolved," he said.

"Unfortunately, it seems to be generally accepted that the United Nations, at least at this point, has lost the ability to bring people together on multilateral issues."

Upon becoming pope, Leo said he initially felt more prepared to lead the world's 1.4 billion Catholics on spiritual matters, but less prepared to play a major role on the global diplomatic stage.

"A completely new aspect of this job is being thrust into the role of a world leader," the pope said.

"I am learning a lot and feel very challenged, but not overwhelmed. In that regard, I had to jump into the deep end of the pool very quickly."