Speaking in Argentina, he said that:

“Because many interests come into play in financing of an election campaign and then they ask you to pay back, so, the election campaign should be independent of anyone who may finance it.”

He went on to say:

“Many interests get into the mix, and then they send you the bill.  Perhaps public financing would allow for me, the citizen, to know that I’m financing each candidate with a given amount of money”.

Everything, according to the Pope, “needs to be transparent and clean.”