How should Catholics behave ethically when it comes to the allocation of capital? Mensuram Bonam: Faith-Based Measures for Catholic Investors — A Starting Point and Call to Action, published by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, is a guide to help guide us.
The Catholic Church has offered teaching both in the form of moral principles and more specific guidance to help investors implement strategies for “faith consistent investing” (FCI). These include statements by national conferences of bishops and by various Vatican dicasteries. This paper will draw on two such statements: the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (or USCCB) Socially Responsible Investments Guidelines updated in November of 2021 and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences’ document “Mensuram Bonum: Faith-Based Measures for Catholic Investors; A Starting Point and Call to Action released in October of 2022.
