Inter-American Development Bank Head Meets Pope After Vatican Urged Mining Divestment

Ilan Goldfajn, head of the Inter-American Development Bank, met privately with Pope Leo XIV in Rome on Friday to discuss rare earth mineral extraction in Latin America. Goldfajn said the region faces a unique opportunity if projects meet standards on labor, environmental protection and governance. He added that the bank already possesses the tools to enforce those standards.

The IADB maintains a roughly $4 billion pipeline of critical mineral projects in the region. Three-quarters of those projects involve private companies, and most are located in Chile, Argentina and Brazil. Goldfajn delivered a presentation on rare earth minerals to potential European investors at a finance conference in Rome on June 18, one day before the papal meeting.

Pope Leo XIV met with a group of top mining executives in a private audience in January 2026. Two months later the Vatican launched a campaign urging divestment from mining companies. The pope is scheduled to visit Peru in November 2026.

He spent two decades as a missionary in the country, serving in Chulucanas in the archdiocese of Piura, in Trujillo and in Chiclayo. During an April 2026 trip to Africa, Pope Leo XIV visited Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea and criticized the “colonization” of African minerals by mining companies.

On Friday he also met participants in a conference at the Vatican’s environmental educational center.

The Vatican provided no readout of the private audience with Goldfajn. U.S. Geological Survey, 75 million tons of rare earth oxides exist worldwide, with more than half located in China and Brazil holding the second-largest reserves.