India, June 21 -- The head of Latin America's top development bank made a pitch to Pope Leo XIV this week in the face of the Vatican's call to divest from the mining industry: that the mistakes of the past can be avoided in extracting rare earth minerals to supply a global tech boom.

Ilan Goldfajn, head of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), met privately with the pope on Friday and asserted the potential of rare earth mining, saying it could be a boon to Latin America provided there are safeguards and value is added locally. It's probably not an easy sell. The Vatican for years has taken a firm stand against multinational mining corporations, especially in Latin America and in favour of the Indigenous peoples, whose lands and li...