The Vatican is imposing a financial policy that prohibits investments in such things as pornography and weapons, and prioritises industries that 'contribute to a more just and sustainable world'.
Investment decisions should also include a "governance factor", favouring companies with codes of ethics and transparent, prudent and fiscally responsible management.
Vatican departments should disinvest from investments not conforming with the policy and liquidate holdings with ethical problems quickly."It is important that portfolio managers be professionals with good reputations with known financial institutions and not just someone's friend," the Vatican official said.
Many Vatican financial scandals in the past have stemmed from an abundance of trust in financial managers, almost always Italians, who were friends of Vatican officials.Discussing finances in an exclusive interview with Reuters this month, Pope Francis gave the example of priests who had no financial experience being asked to manage the finances of a department and who in good faith sought outside help from friends in the outside financial sector.
"But sometimes the friends were not The Blessed Imelda," the pope said, referring to a 14th century 11-year-old Italian girl who is a symbol of childhood purity.The Vatican official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said there would no longer be investments in private equity funds. The Secretariat of State once invested in a private equity fund, that in turn made investments that conservative Catholics considered unethical.
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