Elon Musk Fires Back With Bible Verse After Pope Leo Criticizes His Trillionaire Prospects: 'Notice the Log in Your Own Eye'

Elon Musk has responded with a Bible verse after Pope Leo XIV criticized the prospect of him becoming the world's first trillionaire, using the Tesla CEO as an example of the widening gap between executive wealth and workers' pay.

Speaking to Crux in an interview released on his 70th birthday, Pope Leo said:

"We live in times when polarization seems to be one of the words of the day, but it's not helping anybody. One which I think is very significant is the continuously wider gap between the income levels of the working class and the money that the wealthiest receive"

Turning directly to Musk, he added: "Yesterday there was 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."

Musk replied to the Pope on X with a passage from the Gospel of Matthew: "Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:3–5).

The comment was interpreted by many as a suggestion that the pontiff and the Vatican should examine their own finances before criticizing his. Musk himself accompanied the Bible verse with a post from Kyle Bass, chief investment officer at Hayman Capital Management, who pointed to the fact that "the total wealth of the Vatican approaches $2 trillion," citing land ownership, tax exemptions, and investments exceeding $100 billion.

Elsewhere in the sprawling interview with Crux, Pope Leo XIV was asked about building bridges through the papacy to which he responded by taking a jab at the United Nations:

"First of all, the way of building bridges is primarily through dialogue. One of the things that I've been able to do in these first couple of months is have at least some kind of dialogue, visits with world leaders from multinational organizations. In theory, the United Nations should be the place where many of these issues are dealt with. Unfortunately, it seems to be generally recognized that the United Nations, at least at this moment in time, has lost its ability to bring people together on multilateral issues"