Investing like the Vatican's new stock index: what should a good Catholic do?

The Vatican Bank has introduced its first stock index, supporting businesses that adhere to "Catholic principles"

How well would it work, though?

Investors wishing to align their holdings with Catholic Church doctrine can choose from two of the Vatican's first-ever equity indices.

Known as the Vatican Bank, the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), a bank located in Vatican City that answers to the Pope and cardinals, teamed up with Morningstar to introduce two stock indices: one that focuses on Eurozone stocks and the other on US-listed stocks.

Both are intended to enable religious people to invest in companies that adhere to "market best practices" and are "in accordance with Catholic ethical criteria," the IOR said in a statement.

According to the IOR, the purpose of both indices is to act as a "reference for Catholic investments worldwide."

They are in line with IOR's own investment policy, which is based on five key tenets: respect for human life, environmental preservation, sanctity of human life, overcoming addiction, and following UN guidelines for sustainability and social responsibility.

Big tech darlings are a major component of its US index, the Morningstar IOR US Catholic Principles index. Alphabet, Tesla, Amazon, Nvidia, Apple, and Meta account for nearly 28% of the portfolio's weight.

Meanwhile, chipmaker ASML, Deutsche Telekom, German software company SAP, Santander, and Hermes are all part of its EU offering, the Morningstar IOR Eurozone Catholic Principles index.

Large and medium-cap companies are the focus of both indices.

A return to ESG?

The Vatican's new indices, which invest in companies that give environmental, social, and governance issues top priority, are generally in line with the overarching theme of ESG.

According to a report by Morningstar, ESG investing peaked in 2021, when funds with ESG principles saw inflows of £649.1 billion. This trend was very popular in the first half of the 2020s.

However, in recent times, it has become outdated. According to the report, since 2021, ESG inflows have decreased annually, with 2025 marking the first time that net outflows from ESG funds totaled £84 billion.

The IORs indices explicitly state that they are in line with Catholic doctrine, which goes against the general trend of eschewing ESG.

Are the Vaticans indices going to be profitable investments?

Though it also owns stock in financial services companies like Visa and JP Morgan Chase, the IORs US index is mostly exposed to big tech.

In line with the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church, its investment goal and strategy is to "offer exposure to the largest 50 securities by free float market capitalization in accordance with the client's investment guidelines."

The index was introduced in February 2026, but it is still possible to compute historical performance.

The factsheet from Morningstar claims that it would have outperformed Morningstar's benchmark rate for US large and mid-cap stocks, yielding an annualized return of 16point 89 percent in the previous year and 17point 87 percent over the previous ten years.

Below is a list of the main ingredients.

Morningstar, the source.

Other Christian investment options.

Although some might be introduced in the future, there aren't any exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that replicate the Vatican's two new indices at the moment.

Investors can use the firms included in the two indices as a guide for their own investments if they wish to invest in companies that match them.

As an alternative, there are already ETFs that only invest in companies they consider to be adhering to Christian principles.

This includes the Global Xs S&P 500 Christian Values ETF (NASDAQ:CATH), which only invests in S&P 500 companies whose operations are consistent with biblical principles as determined by Christian investing framework provider Bountiful Financial.

Large tech stocks make up the majority of the fund's top holdings, much like the Vatican indices.

The FIS Christian Stock Fund ETF (NYSE:PRAY), which is appropriately named after its ticker, "PRAY," is an additional option.

The fund's strategy calls for investing at least 80 percent of its assets in "investments that are biblically responsible." Among its largest holdings are Taiwan Semiconductor, Samsung, and Nvidia.