Italian bishops release revised investment guidelines

May 21, 2026

The Italian Episcopal Conference released revised investment guidelines on May 19.

Investments, said the bishops, should be “guided by moral considerations, conjoined with, but not subordinate to, financial performance.”

In its summary of the 83-page document, directed primarily to dioceses, parishes, and religious institutes, the Vatican newspaper reported that the guidelines forbid investments in companies “active in the production and trade of weapons,” as well as those that “support abortion” or “produce or market contraceptives with abortifacient effects.”

Turning to euthanasia, the guidelines state that “these medications are often employed for absolutely legitimate medical procedures, such as anesthesia,” and therefore “the exclusion of companies” that manufacture them “would risk indirectly causing detrimental consequences for patients.”

The Vatican newspaper added:

Investments are also prohibited in companies that engage in discriminatory practices; “are embroiled in corruption-related controversies”; or are implicated in the production and dissemination of child pornography. Furthermore, investments are excluded “in countries that enforce the death penalty” and “in government bonds issued by those countries” identified as “totalitarian and/or dictatorial.”

Investing in cryptocurrencies is deemed “inappropriate.” Indeed, trading in them is characterized by a high degree of volatility and opacity, and their purpose is often to finance illicit activities such as money laundering and terrorist financing.

The new guidelines—approved by the Permanent Episcopal Council in March—are a revision of guidelines released in 2020. The bishops described the revision as “a necessary update in a rapidly changing world.”

 

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Further information:

• Linee Guida della Conferenza Episcopale Italiana in materia di investimenti etici e sostenibili (CEI, April 26)
• Linee Guida in materia di investimenti etici e sostenibili (CEI, 5/19/26)