Faith-based investing is more than a financial strategy: it is also an opportunity to act in alignment with personal values and economic decisions. Catholic investing seeks precisely this: to unite profitability, responsibility, and faith. By following the Social Doctrine of the Church as a roadmap, it is possible to adopt an approach that respects human dignity, life, family, and the care of creation.
Fundamental Principles of Catholic Investing
Ethical investing from a Catholic perspective is not limited to excluding companies involved in activities contrary to faith, such as abortion or research with human embryos. It also focuses on actively investing in companies that promote good by fostering responsible policies and sustainable practices. This approach transforms investing into a true way of contributing to the common good.
Criteria for Faith-Based Investing
Catholic investing is built on four fundamental pillars: respect for life, human dignity, family, and the care and protection of creation. This requires analyzing each company not only from a financial standpoint but also through an ethical lens. For this purpose, Altum has developed the Altum Investment Guidelines, which serve as the roadmap for conducting an ethical analysis of companies, always grounded in the Social Doctrine of the Church.
Faith-based investing requires professional investing tools that can assess whether companies meet both ethical and financial criteria. Altum Explorer, for example, is a stock screening tool designed for professionals, analyzing thousands of companies worldwide and ranking them based on their compatibility with Catholic values in investing. This helps build personalized portfolios that are 100% aligned with faith. Altum App is aimed at retail investors who want to perform their own analysis of companies that are compliant with Catholic teaching.
Socially Responsible Investing with a Catholic Vision
Socially responsible investing often focuses on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. However, Catholic investing goes one step further by adding a moral and theological foundation. This approach ensures that financial returns are not detached from a holistic vision of the human person and creation, and that the criteria remain consistent — faith is not a passing trend, but something that endures, providing stability to the ethical evaluation of companies.
Investing That Unites Faith and Profitability
It is not about choosing between economic growth and fidelity to Christian values. Profitability and integrity can go hand in hand when clear criteria, rigorous analysis, and advanced tools are applied to evaluate the ethical impact of every investment decision.
