Vatican Bank Is Picking Stocks — And It Likes Meta, Amazon The Most

Core Viewpoint - The Vatican Bank has launched two new equity indexes aimed at tracking companies that adhere to the social doctrine of the Catholic Church, enhancing its role as a financial institution serving the church [1][3]. Group 1: Index Details - The Morningstar IOR U.S. Catholic Principles Index and the Morningstar IOR Eurozone Catholic Principles Index each monitor 50 medium- and large-cap corporations [2]. - Each constituent of the indexes undergoes a rigorous screening process to ensure compliance with ethical mandates regarding human dignity, social justice, and environmental protection [2]. Group 2: Strategic Implications - Giovanni Boscia, CFO of the Vatican Bank, stated that having benchmarks built according to recognized Catholic ethical criteria allows for more rigorous and transparent performance assessment and reporting [3]. - The new Catholic indexes position the Vatican to potentially capitalize on the growing global market for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) [4]. - The ETF sector is projected to reach nearly $30 trillion by 2029, indicating a significant opportunity for the Vatican to license its new stock indexes to third-party providers [5].