JUNE 20, 2026
IADB Head Pitches Responsible Rare Earth Mining to Pope Leo XIV, Who Has Firsthand Experience in Peru's Extraction Zones
Ilan Goldfajn, president of the Inter-American Development Bank, met privately with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on June 19, 2026, to argue that rare earth mineral extraction in Latin America can be conducted responsibly and benefit local populations. The Vatican has maintained a firm stance against multinational mining corporations, and two months after Leo met with mining executives in January, the Vatican launched a divestment campaign. Leo spent two decades as a missionary in Peru, working in regions directly affected by copper, gold, and other extraction industries.
Ilan Goldfajn traveled to Rome to make the case that Latin America's rare earth mineral wealth — essential for smartphones, semiconductors, electric vehicles, and jet engines — could be developed in a way that avoids the region's long history of extractive harm. Speaking to the Associated Press on June 18, one day before his private audience with Pope Leo XIV, Goldfajn said the Inter-American Development Bank has a roughly $4 billion pipeline of critical mineral projects in Chile, Argentina, and Brazil, with about three-quarters involving private companies.
The pitch comes against a complicated backdrop at the Vatican. Leo met with a group of senior mining executives in January in what Goldfajn described, based on accounts he received, as a "very constructive" session. But two months later, the Vatican launched a campaign urging local churches to review investment strategies, divest from mining companies where warranted, and share information with Indigenous communities about extraction occurring on their lands. Leo also used his April trip to Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea to criticize what he described as the "colonization" of Africa's minerals by mining companies.
Leo's own biography makes the meeting particularly consequential. He ministered for roughly two decades in Peru — in Chulucanas, in the archdiocese of Piura, which has significant copper mining projects; in Trujillo, known for gold deposits; and in Chiclayo, a logistics hub for northern Peru's extraction industries. Goldfajn acknowledged that Leo "must have seen both sides: the promise, the future, but also the challenges." Leo is expected to return to Peru in November, visiting places where he previously worked.