Altum Faithful Investing: A Call to Evangelize the Financial World
Altum Faithful Investing does not simply propose an ethical investment methodology, or a sophisticated version of socially responsible investing. Faithful Investing is, above all, a concrete way of living one’s faith within the economic sphere—a call to evangelize one of the most influential, and often most dehumanized, arenas of modern society: the world of finance.
In a culture where capital is frequently treated as morally neutral and profitability is presented as the ultimate benchmark, Faithful Investing reaffirms a central principle of Catholic Social Teaching: every economic decision is also a moral decision.
For Catholic investors, religious institutions, foundations, and families seeking coherence with their faith, a fundamental question arises: How can one invest professionally and rigorously without compromising Catholic convictions?
Evangelizing Finance: Faith, Coherence, and Responsibility
At first glance, speaking about evangelization in the financial sphere may seem abstract. Yet the Church has consistently taught that economics cannot be separated from morality, and that capital must serve the common good.
Faithful Investing is grounded in three core convictions:
- Money is not an end in itself, but a means.
- Moral neutrality in investing is a myth: every investment supports certain business activities and practices.
- Faith must permeate every dimension of life, including the stewardship of wealth.
From this perspective, Catholic investing becomes a way of transforming economic structures from within.
The Altum Investment Guidelines: Bringing Faith into Concrete Decisions
One of the greatest risks in ethical investing is remaining at the level of vague declarations. For this reason, Altum has developed the Altum Investment Guidelines—a clear and structured framework for applying Faithful Investing in a professional and practical way.
Rooted in Catholic Social Teaching, these guidelines are built upon four pillars:
1. Promotion of Human Life
Faithful Investing seeks to build portfolios that support a culture of life. This includes avoiding investments in companies involved in abortion, contraception, indiscriminate weapons, or euthanasia.
It also excludes companies directly or indirectly engaged in embryonic stem cell research, research using stem cells derived from fetal tissue or embryos, or human cloning.
To ensure consistency and clarity, the Altum Faithful Investing team develops specific investment policies addressing each of these areas. These policies help investors translate the Catholic Magisterium into practical financial decisions.
A pharmaceutical company may demonstrate strong financial performance, yet still be excluded if a meaningful part of its business is connected to abortion or if it develops products through embryonic stem cell research. Faithful Investing goes beyond financial ratios—it applies a rigorous ethical filter.
2. Promotion of Human Dignity
Investing in alignment with faith means building portfolios that respect the dignity of workers, limit the spread of pornography, promote freedom from addiction, and safeguard religious liberty.
At Altum, we seek to invest in companies and assets that demonstrate responsible management practices, uphold human dignity, and operate with integrity in their relationships with employees, competitors, customers, and suppliers.
We avoid companies significantly involved in the production, distribution, or sale of pornographic material. We positively value businesses that help individuals overcome addictive behaviors, particularly those linked to cannabis or gambling.
We also exclude investments in governments or corporations that promote or engage in religious persecution or violate the fundamental right to religious freedom.
Companies with opaque supply chains or involvement in labor exploitation scandals are incompatible with a Catholic portfolio—even if they meet conventional ESG standards.
3. Protection of the Family and the Social Order
The family is the foundational cell of society. Accordingly, the Altum Investment Guidelines favor companies whose activities recognize and promote the social value and virtues of family life.
We avoid investing in companies or assets that actively oppose the Catholic understanding of marriage and family.
This approach extends far beyond traditional socially responsible investing, which rarely incorporates these considerations.
4. Care for Creation and the Common Good
Faith-consistent investing also requires an integral ecology—one that respects creation without falling into greenwashing, and that seeks to preserve the natural world for the integral development of future generations.
Companies involved in serious environmental controversies or abuse of natural resources are excluded from our portfolios. At the same time, we seek to promote positive environmental initiatives undertaken by governments and corporations that uphold the highest standards in their environmental conduct.
Faithful Investing vs. ESG: An Essential Difference
Though often conflated, Faithful Investing and ESG are not equivalent.
ESG frameworks are built upon criteria that can vary over time and often reflect shifting cultural or political trends. Faithful Investing, by contrast, rests on objective and enduring moral principles.
For Catholic investors, this distinction is critical. Faith is not a passing trend, and ethical standards cannot fluctuate with changing cultural, social, or regulatory contexts. Faithful Investing is anchored in the permanent moral principles of Catholic Social Teaching. Investing with integrity requires a stable and consistent framework grounded in values that do not change.
Professional Investment Tools at the Service of Faith
Evangelizing finance does not mean abandoning technical rigor. On the contrary, Catholic investing demands professional excellence.
Altum’s mission is precisely this: to place professional investment tools at the service of faith. Solutions such as Altum Explorer enable investors to integrate ethical and financial analysis, applying customized filters based on the Altum Investment Guidelines. This makes it possible to clearly identify which companies are compatible with Catholic values—and which are not.
With these tools, investors can build genuinely Catholic portfolios, apply faith-based equity screening, and manage wealth with coherence, transparency, and technical excellence.
A Faith That Is Also Invested
Faithful Investing demonstrates that faith and finance are not only compatible—they can strengthen one another. Evangelizing the financial world becomes possible when clear principles, professional tools, and a deep conviction align: capital must serve the human person.
At Altum, we believe that investing well is also a form of witness. And today, perhaps more than ever, the world needs investors who live their faith coherently—even in the markets.
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