Faith-based investing stems from a deep conviction: money can and should serve the common good. Investing is not merely a way to grow wealth; it is an opportunity to help build a more just and human economy grounded in Catholic values in investing. 

Catholic investing begins with a simple truth: we are not the ultimate owners of our assets but stewards called to manage them faithfully, prudently, and generously. Every financial decision becomes a moral act, because every dollar invested supports a productive activity — for better or worse. 

Thus, to invest faithfully is to ask: where is my money working? Am I supporting companies that uphold human dignity, family, and creation, or am I unknowingly financing those that go against these same principles? 

Ethical investing and coherence with faith 

Ethical investing is about coherence. It’s not only about avoiding harm but about promoting good — investing in businesses that protect life, foster justice, and promote human development. This transforms socially responsible investing into a genuine act of faith lived out in the marketplace. 

Rooted in the Church’s Social Teaching, this vision reminds us that economics has a moral dimension. Money is a means to serve the common good, and faith-based investing becomes a concrete way to bear witness to one’s faith — even through financial decisions. 

Technology serving faith: Altum App and Altum Explorer 

To achieve this alignment, Altum has developed professional investing tools designed to help investors make informed, faith-consistent choices. 

Altum Explorer is a stock screening tool that evaluates thousands of listed companies worldwide, ranking them by their compatibility with Catholic teaching. Its rigorous methodology enables investors to detect when a company violates Church principles and find compliant alternatives. 

Meanwhile, Altum App is tailored for individual investors seeking an intuitive and accessible way to assess whether their portfolios are aligned with their faith. 

Together, these platforms empower both institutions and individuals to create portfolios that embody Catholic investing — ethical, transparent, and professionally managed. 

Faithful investing: profitability with purpose 

To invest faithfully does not mean sacrificing financial returns but infusing them with purpose. Faith-based investing shows that responsibility, integrity, and profitability can coexist when guided by the Gospel. 

When your faith and finances are aligned, you live with coherence and conviction, contributing to the common good through the companies you support. 

At Altum Faithful Investing, we believe investing should be faithful — faithful to the person, faithful to the Gospel, and faithful to the values that give meaning to our economic life. 

For more Faith-based Investing, click here.

More and more investors are seeking to integrate ethical and Catholic criteria into their financial decisions, ensuring that their capital does not contribute to activities contrary to the Magisterium. As explained in Catholic Investing: How to Know if Your Investment Respects Your Principles, investing is never a neutral act: through the use of capital we support or reject practices and structures—an assertion fully consistent with the Social Doctrine of the Church and with principles presented in magisterial documents. 

The stock market, often perceived as a purely technical environment, is in fact a space where the moral coherence of the Catholic investor becomes visible. Every share purchased, every fund selected, and every company supported expresses an ethical vision of the human person, society, and the common good. For this reason, Catholic Investing must rest on firm criteria, not on variable trends. 

Why Catholic values matter in today’s stock market

The stock market is a tool for economic participation that can contribute significantly to human development. However, as Pope Francis has reiterated, when the market becomes an end in itself and prioritizes profit over the human person, a considerable moral risk arises. Ethics, therefore, cannot be a superficial add-on: it must be an internal structure of the investment process, as emphasized in the Practical Guide to Investing as a Catholic. 

Catholic values in investing provide the basis for discerning whether the economic activities promoted by a company are compatible with human dignity, the protection of life, the family, and the care of creation. In this way, the Catholic investor can direct capital toward initiatives that generate real positive impact in society and contribute to the common good. 

Beyond ESG: why Catholic investing requires a stronger framework 

The rise of ESG investing has driven efforts to incorporate environmental and social factors into financial decision-making. However, as explained in Faithful Investing vs ESG: How Catholic Investing Goes Further, ESG criteria present significant limitations: subjectivity, inconsistencies among rating agencies, and, in some cases, approval of practices incompatible with the faith (for example, activities linked to abortion or the production of indiscriminate weapons). 

Faithful Investing goes beyond environmental or governance criteria: it places the human person at the center of every economic and social decision. 
Unlike the ESG framework, whose interpretation may vary over time and adapt to changing social currents, Faithful Investing relies on stable and permanent values and foundations, rooted in the Social Teaching of the Church.

Investing according to Catholic values as a form of witness 

Catholic values in investing allow Christians to live their faith also in the economic sphere. With the support and guidance of the Church, ethical discernment, and professional tools such as Altum Explorer, it is fully possible to invest in the stock market without giving up moral coherence. 
Mensuram Bonam offers guidance on what practical strategies Catholic investors can implement to invest in a way that is consistent with the faith:

• Exclusion Strategy: Defined as the policy to avoid ethical contradictions between an investment and the teachings of the Church by applying criteria based on those teachings, such as those contained in the Altum Investment Guidelines. 

• Call to engagement: Defined as the active use of shareholder ownership to influence companies through dialogue, voting, and collaboration with other investors. Tools such as Proxy Voting facilitate the active participation of the Catholic investor.

Investing ceases to be a simple financial act and becomes a decision oriented toward the common good and Christian witness. 

For more Faithful Investing, click here.

Ethical investing from a Catholic perspective views money not as an end in itself, but as a means to serve the common good, human dignity, and the building of a more just and fraternal society. 

Placing the Human Person at the Center of Investing 

Faith-based investing begins from an essential principle: the human person must always occupy the center of all economic and financial activity. 

This is the teaching of the Social Teaching of the Church, which reminds us that material goods—including financial capital—are called to serve the integral development of the human person and the common good. 

Therefore, catholic investors direct their assets toward projects, companies, and sectors that promote life, family, dignified work, social justice, and respect for creation—while avoiding activities that contradict Catholic values in investing or violate human dignity. 

Investing Guided by Permanent Ethical Principles 

Unlike other forms of socially responsible investing, such as ESG criteria—which often shift with social trends or ideological fashions—catholic investing is grounded in objective, universal, and permanent moral principles rooted in the Gospel and the Church’s Magisterium. 

An ethical Catholic investment portfolio excludes companies involved in practices contrary to: 

• Human life (e.g., abortion or euthanasia). 

• Human dignity (e.g., labor exploitation, pornography, or addiction). 

• Family (e.g., promotion of gender ideology). 

• Care for creation (e.g., irresponsible pollution, environmental destruction, or harm to local communities). 

But faith-based investing goes beyond simply avoiding wrongdoing. It actively promotes goods supporting companies that foster social justice, solidarity, sustainability, and authentic human development. 

In essence, it is a model of purposeful investing, where every decision reflects a moral choice for the common good. 

How to Build a Faith-Aligned Portfolio 

Today, there are professional investing tools that allow these criteria to be applied rigorously, transparently, and with technical excellence. 

Altum Explorer is a stock screening tool designed to analyze thousands of global companies in light of the Social Teaching of the Church, classifying their level of ethical compatibility. 

With Altum Explorer, investors can: 

• Identify, with verified evidence, corporate ties to activities contrary to catholic investing and religious freedom. 

• Build and simulate portfolios that are 100% aligned with catholic values in investing. 

• Integrate ethical and financial analysis into the professional workflow of managers or advisors, ensuring transparency and moral integrity. 

Meanwhile, Altum App—a free and accessible tool—brings this analysis closer to individual investors, offering clear, visual, and updated information on companies aligned with ethical investing and christian values. 

In addition, the catholic investment advisor plays a key role: not only to maximize risk-adjusted returns but also to guide clients in the ethical discernment of their investments. 

This means deeply analyzing companies and funds, ensuring they do not violate fundamental principles of faith, and always offering coherent and profitable alternatives that remain faithful to catholic values. 

Faith-Based Investing: Profitability with Purpose 

To invest in a way consistent with one’s faith does not mean renouncing profitability, it means giving it meaning and transcendence. 

Each investment decision can contribute to a more humane, just, and fraternal economy, serving both the person and God. 

Faith-based Investing, or Faithful Investing, is a concrete way of living the Gospel even in the economic sphere, integrating faith into every financial and business decision. 

Our investments are not neutral: they reflect who we are, what we believe, and what we stand for. 

Ultimately, our actions -including financial ones- define us and can, and must, transform the world in the light of faith. 

For more Faith-based Investing, click here.

The Church reminds us that the economy is never neutral: every investment has a moral impact and must always be oriented toward the common good. Within this context, ethical investing—also called faith-consistent investing or Faithful Investing—offers an approach that integrates responsibility, impact, and fidelity to the Magisterium. 

What is catholic investing according to the Church’s Social Doctrine or Faithful Investing? 

The Church’s Social Doctrine teaches that money is not an end in itself but a means, and Mensuram Bonam reminds us that “the economy is not an autonomous system detached from ethics. It is called to serve the human person and contribute to the common good.” 

Faithful Investing seeks to align financial decisions with the faith, always pursuing two objectives: achieving adequate returns and ensuring that the investment portfolio always complies with the teachings of the Catholic Church. 

Through the Altum Investment Guidelines, we aim to integrate Christian values into every investment decision, following four fundamental pillars: the Promotion of Life, the Promotion of the Family, the Promotion of Human Dignity, and the Care and Protection of Creation. These principles not only guide our decisions but also provide a clear framework for building investment portfolios consistent with the Catholic faith without sacrificing returns. 

Professional tools for rigorous ethical discernment 

The lack of reliable information has historically been one of the greatest obstacles for those who wished to invest ethically and in coherence with their faith. Today, thanks to the Altum Explorer platform, professional investors can overcome this challenge through easy access to comprehensive, rigorous, and transparent analyses of thousands of global companies. Each company is evaluated from the perspective of Catholic values according to the Church’s Social Doctrine, offering investors a solid foundation for well-informed decisions fully aligned with their conscience. 

For individual investors, the Altum App allows them to assess companies using the same criteria, making it easier to build portfolios that are consistent with their faith. In this way, anyone can construct faith-consistent portfolios supported by professional, clear, and intuitive tools. 

Thanks to these resources, Catholic responsible investing has been consolidated as a technical, professional, and coherent alternative for institutions, dioceses, religious congregations, foundations, and any Catholic investor. 

Responsible investing that strengthens faith 

Investing according to the Church’s Social Doctrine is not just a technical choice; it is also a concrete way of bearing Christian witness. The Church’s Social Doctrine is at the service of the human person, helping to guide his or her conduct in a Christian way in every area of life, including work and economic activity. 

Through Faithful Investing, the Catholic investor helps to build a world more aligned with the values of the Gospel, showing that faith and the economy not only can coexist, but in fact strengthen one another. 

For more Faithful Investing, click here.

Why Religious Freedom Is Part of the Human Dignity Pillar

Religious freedom is neither a secondary nor merely cultural matter; it is a direct expression of human dignity. When a state, company, or pressure group restricts, penalizes, or discriminates on the grounds of faith, that dignity is violated—along with the justice and common good that socially responsible investing seeks to promote.

According to the Social Teaching of the Church, investing is never a neutral act. That’s why faith based investing explicitly incorporates this right into its ethical criteria, ensuring that your money does not end up funding initiatives that undermine freedom of conscience or worship. In doing so, it builds a model of faith based investing where human dignity and Catholic values in investing are at the heart of every financial decision.

Exclusion Criteria: How to Detect Persecution or Restrictions on Faith

In our ethical analysis process, we apply a screen that identifies signals which could undermine respect for freedom of religion and worship, for example:

• Corporate support for bills or regulations that limit religious freedom (e.g., banning the right to conscientious objection for healthcare workers, or preventing a business owners from choosing not to lease a property to a company that engages in practices contrary to their faith).
• Collaboration with governments or agencies known for repressing religious minorities.
• Internal policies that discriminate against employees, clients, or suppliers based on their beliefs (e.g., sanctions for publicly expressing one’s faith).
• Lobbying campaigns or funding of groups seeking to exclude faith from public life and impose different ideologies.

These criteria coexist with other traditional exclusions in faith based investing forming a stable framework for ethical investing that is not subject to trends—unlike certain ESG approaches that are more elastic in their definitions.

From Theory to Practice: Professional Investment Tools for Ethical Screening

Ethical discernment requires verifiable and traceable data. That’s why Altum has developed Altum Explorer, an investment tool for asset managers, financial advisors, and professional investors that evaluates thousands of global companies through the lens of Catholic principles and classifies their level of compatibility. With it, investors can:

• Identify, with evidence, corporate links to activities or initiatives contrary to Catholic investing (including violations of religious freedom).
• Build 100% faith-aligned portfolios and simulate compliant alternatives.
• Integrate ethical analysis into the workflow of the Catholic investment manager or advisor without compromising technical rigor.

For retail investors, Altum App enables independent analysis of companies aligned with faith based investing and Catholic values in investing. These are professional-grade tools for ethical and socially responsible investing, allowing investors to apply real-time faith-driven filters with the transparency Catholic investors have long been seeking.

Faith based investing is possible. Make sure your investments don’t compromise your integrity.

To learn more about how Altum apply the Social Teaching of the Church in its financial analysis, click here.