A Look at the Vatican’s ‘Mensuram Bonum’
The Catechism of the Catholic Church provides guidance in the economic sphere:
2426….Economic activity…is to be exercised within the limits of the moral order….
2427….Work can be a means of sanctification and a way of animating earthly realities with the Spirit of Christ.
2428….Everyone should be able to draw from work the means of providing for his life and that of his family, and of serving the human community.
2429 Everyone has the right of economic initiative; everyone should make legitimate use of his talents….[while observing] regulations issued by legitimate authority for the sake of the common good.
2430….Efforts should be made to reduce…conflicts by negotiation….
2431 ….[Quoting Centesimus annus:] “Economic activity….presupposes sure guarantees of individual freedom and private property, as well as a stable currency and efficient public services. Hence the principal task of the state is to guarantee this security….Another task of the state is…overseeing and directing the exercise of human rights in the economic sector….primary responsibility in this area belongs not to the state but to individuals and to the various groups and associations which make up society.”
2432 Those responsible for business enterprises are responsible…for the economic and ecological effects…
2433 Access to employment and to professions must be open to all without unjust discrimination….society should…help citizens find work and employment.
2434….[Quoting Gaudium et Spes:] “Remuneration for work should guarantee man the opportunity to provide a dignified livelihood for himself and his family on the material, social, cultural and spiritual level, taking into account the role and the productivity of each, the state of the business, and the common good.” Agreement between the parties is not sufficient to justify morally the amount to be received in wages.
2435 Recourse [to strikes]….becomes morally unacceptable when accompanied by violence, or when objectives…are not directly linked to working conditions or are contrary to the common good.
2436 Unemployment almost always wounds its victim’s dignity and threatens the equilibrium of his life….
Mensuram Bonum
Following up on the Catechism, the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences has the opportunity to get more precise in Mensuram Bonum:
With its publication, Mensuram Bonam hopes to shed light of the Gospel and of Catholic Social Teaching (CST) in the specific area of economics and the world of finance which may be referred to as the management of financial assets or investing….
Rooted as it is in the teachings of faith and in the Church’s social teaching, MB speaks to and supports all those, who work in the financial sectors every day (institutions but also individuals), and are searching for ways to live their faith and contribute to the promotion of an inclusive and integral wellbeing or advancement of people. MB seeks to offer such an opportunity for discernment, providing guidance and principles to enable them to respond to the call of the Gospel and the wisdom of the Tradition of the Church by more fully integrating the Church’s social and moral teaching into the management of their financial assets with a focus on investing in listed securities or mutual funds [from Cardinal Turkson’s foreward].
While “comments” on the last page of Mensuram Bonum only include congratulatory remarks, Dr. Samuel Gregg offers a very thoughtful critique:
the document recognizes that there are limits to what private and institutional investors can know about what is happening in the marketplace at any one time. Such limits don’t let us off the moral hook, but they don’t often get acknowledged….
One [problem] is its approach to ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) investing….I and others have argued that ESG is internally incoherent, is extremely susceptible to various woke agendas (which are usually incompatible with orthodox Catholic ethics), fosters virtue-signaling that often serves to disguise serious wrong-doing inside companies, undermines the legal accountability of directors and managers to shareholders, and tends to result in businesses morphing into an odd and ultimately unsustainable combination of lefty-NGO and commercial enterprise. There is also growing evidence that the measurement criteria typically employed by ESG funds and approaches are unstable and inconsistent in their application. The Church has, I would argue, very little to learn from ESG because of these and other problems with its genesis, design, and implementation.
My second critical observation concerns the absence of any substantive reference to scholastic thought and reflection on questions of money and investment….
we need to work to ensure that many more Catholics involved in business and investment are more deeply formed in the Church’s moral teaching….I would recommend reading some of the cases studies on ethical dilemmas in business that are listed in Volume Three of the late Germain Grisez’s The Way of the Lord Jesus.
(The Vatican’s New Guidelines for Ethical Investing: A Q&A with Dr. Samuel Gregg, The Catholic World Report, 2/1/23).
Conclusion
As per Dr. Gregg, Mensuram Bonum “recognizes that there are limits to what private and institutional investors can know about what is happening in the marketplace at any one time. Such limits don’t let us off the moral hook” We need to be acutely aware that many corporations ascribe to offensive moral agendas. We do not want to be parties to efforts counter to the sanctity of human life and the sanctity of marriage/family. In a recent Catholic365 article, I summarized individual responsibility in the wrongdoing of others: “Cooperation with Grave Attacks on Human Life.”)
Dr. Gregg is also right in noting that “we need to work to ensure that many more Catholics involved in business and investment are more deeply formed in the Church’s moral teaching.” While Mensuram Bonum reads as though its primary audience is professionals and students, anyone with a bank account or an insurance policy cannot help but be “involved in business and investment!
We need to be ever aware of our potential involvement in the wrongdoing of others: (i.e., Cooperation with Grave Attacks on Human Life).
6 thoughts on “Faith-Based Measures for Catholic Investors: A Starting Point and Call to Action”
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Thank you for sharing that, Deacon.
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The full name of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences’ document is: “‘Mensuram Bonum’ Faith-Based Measures for Catholic Investors: A Starting Point and Call to Action.” I indeed wrote of Dr Gregg’s critique and concerns about ESG. I think that Gregg’s citing of the late and great Germain Grimes is also noteworthy.
I would greatly appreciate more and specific guidance from the Church on these matters. I strongly believe that we should “not want to be parties to efforts counter to the sanctity of human life and the sanctity of marriage/family.”
Thank you for directing me to that document.
You seem to be agreeing with Dr Gregg and disagreeing with the Pontifical Academy, which speaks of ESG only in positive terms. And the guidance it gives is very clear. You just don’t agree with it, for the most part.
This post should be entitled “a call to inaction”. You cite Catholic teaching as to moral investing but then talk only about the ways it shouldn’t be done.
Surely you agree that the Church calls us, among other things, to the “E” in “ESG” — responsible, targeted investing with the environment in mind.