News Briefs

New policy says Vatican investments cannot contradict Catholic teaching

July 19, 2022 Catholic News Agency 5
St. Peter’s Basilica / / Bohumil Petrik/CNA

Rome Newsroom, Jul 19, 2022 / 05:42 am (CNA).

A Vatican policy published Tuesday says that the Holy See’s financial investments cannot contradict Catholic teaching.

The policy stipulates that Vatican investments should “be aligned with the teachings of the Catholic Church, with specific exclusions for financial investments which contradict its fundamental principles, such as the sanctity of life or the dignity of the human being or the common good.”

The guidelines also say that investments of the Holy See and related entities should aim to contribute to a more just and sustainable world and to generate sufficient return in a sustainable way.

The policy, which continues Pope Francis’ reform of Vatican finances, goes into effect Sept. 1.

Investments will be made through APSA, the Holy See’s treasury and sovereign wealth manager, and overseen by an ethics committee of four financial professionals headed by Cardinal Kevin Farrell.

According to the policy, the Vatican and related entities may not invest in products and technologies related to “pornography and prostitution; gambling; weapons and defence industry; pro-abortion health centers; and laboratories or pharmaceutical companies that manufacture contractive products and/or work with embryonic stem cells.”

Industries which the policy says should be avoided for investment, but are not prohibited, include oil and mining, nuclear energy, and alcoholic beverages.

There will be a one year grace period for Vatican entities to divest of existing investments not in conformity with the new policies.

In April 2021, an Italian investigative news program accused the Vatican’s treasury of investing 20 million euros (then around $24 million) in several pharmaceutical companies involved in making the “morning-after pill.”

Investments, the policy says, should be evaluated to ensure they comply with the principles of the Catholic Church’s social doctrine on human dignity, the common good — including the universal destination of goods — subsidiarity, and solidarity.

The guidelines also exclude investments designed to be speculative or of a speculative strategy “unless necessary for the efficiency of investment transactions or to hedge risk.”

“The decision to invest in one place rather than another… is always a moral and cultural choice,” the policy says.

Investments will be approved through an oversight committee, which was formed last month after nearly two years in the making.

On June 7, Cardinal Kevin Farrell was appointed president of the new oversight committee, a body established by the Vatican’s new constitution, Praedicate evangelium.

Farrell, 74, will lead a committee of four finance professionals: John J. Zona, chief investment officer of Boston College; Jean Pierre Casey, founder and manager of RegHedge; Giovanni Christian Michael Gay, managing director of Union Investment Privatfonds GmbH; and David Harris, portfolio manager of Skagen Funds.

Since 2020, the Irish American cardinal has also led a committee to monitor internal Vatican financial decisions which fall outside other accountability norms.

According to the committee statutes, published July 19, members are appointed by Pope Francis for a five year term, with possibility of re-appointment for a second term.

The committee will operate ad experimentum for five years.

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Pope Francis warns of toxicity in social media, calls for inclusion in digital space

July 18, 2022 Catholic News Agency 8
Pope Francis celebrated Mass for Rome’s Congolese community in St. Peter’s Basilica on July 3, 2022. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, Jul 18, 2022 / 03:56 am (CNA).

Pope Francis has called on Catholics to counter toxicity in social media, and to engage in dialogue and education to help deal with “lies and misinformation”. 

In a message published by the Holy See on July 18, the Holy Father also called for the inclusion of currently excluded communities into “the digital space”.

Pope Francis addressed this message to the participants of the 2022 World Congress of SIGNIS in Seoul, South Korea. The event is held every four years, and the 2022 Congress  explores the theme of “Peace in the Digital World” both on site and digitally from August 16-19. 

SIGNIS is the World Catholic Association for Communication, an organization whose mission is to “help transform cultures in the light of the Gospel by promoting human dignity, justice and reconciliation.”  

In his message, Pope Francis said, “the use of digital media, especially social media, has raised a number of  serious ethical issues that call for wise and discerning judgment on the part of communicators and  all those concerned with the authenticity and quality of human relationships.” 

“Sometimes and in some places, media sites have become places of toxicity, hate speech and fake news,” the pope added.

He encouraged Catholic communicators to persevere in efforts to counter these, “paying particular attention to the need to assist people, especially young people, to develop a sound  critical sense, learning to distinguish truth from falsehood, right from wrong, good from evil, and to  appreciate the importance of working for justice, social concord, and respect for our common home.”

The pope also drew attention to “the many communities in our world that remain excluded  from the digital space, making digital inclusion a priority.”

In doing  so, Catholic communicators provide a “significant contribution to the spread of a culture of peace grounded in the  truth of the Gospel,” the Holy Father added. 

Pope Francis prayed that “the story of Saint Andrew  Kim and his companions two hundred years ago [may] confirm you in your own efforts to spread the  Gospel of Jesus Christ in the language of contemporary communications media.”

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