Prior to his health crisis, news sources report that Pope Francis clashed with cardinals regarding how best to address a growing deficit in Vatican finances. “Three days before hospitalization,” reports Reuters and other sources, “Francis ordered the creation of a new high-level commission to encourage donations to the headquarters of the 1.4-billion-member Catholic Church.” Yesterday…
The past days have seen the media launch an attack on an individual, Peter Hegseth, who President Trump has nominated for the cabinet level position of Defense Secretary. The condemnations arise from two tattoos he bears. I don’t know Mr. Hegseth, but I do know a reasonable amount about the tattoo designs. Both of the…
As we rapidly approach the finish line of this year’s presidential election, emotions run high and pundits weigh in on how its outcome may affect the stock market. Interestingly, history is unclear as to whether the stock market (as measured by the S&P 500 Index) cares which party ultimately holds the presidency. Republican or Democrat,…
Last night I had the good fortune of attending our archdiocesan Pallium Lecture. It “is an annual event designed to foster conversation and engage the broader culture through the Catholic intellectual tradition,” per the Milwaukee Archdiocese website. Over the history of the event, the speakers have included Cardinal Dolan and Bishop Barron, among many other…
On January 22, the Catholic Church in the United States observes a “Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children”. As a past president and former board member of Wisconsin Right to Life, this day is especially meaningful to me. And, somewhat oddly, it inspired me today to share some rather different investment…
Happy New Year! The exclamation is often followed by an inquiry: what are your new year’s resolutions? And every year for millions of Americans (some research says 60% of the population) most of the answers have to do with self-improvement of one type or another. A survey by Forbes done just before year-end showed the…
CNA—Judges delivered verdicts in the Vatican’s financial corruption trial on Saturday sentencing Cardinal Angelo Becciu to more than five years in prison and convicting five other defendants to similar jail sentences for financial crimes. Historic Trial, Becciu’s Sentence Becciu, the pope’s former chief of staff, is the highest ranking Vatican official ever to face a…
I have been lucky to have been blessed with seven children. They are now all adults. The majority have yet to start investing for the future despite the occasional admonishment from me. That’s a really bad idea for them and for anyone who has followed the same path. The chart below offers a very simple…
CNA—Ninety-six loans and just over $96 million. That’s the track record thus far of Catholic Finance Corporation (CFC), a Minneapolis-based Catholic firm that has issued tens of millions of dollars in loans to regional Catholic organizations and groups over the past few decades. Michael Laughery, the group’s director of partner services, told CNA that the…
It seems that hardly a day goes by that another major corporation doesn’t pop up with some amazing demonstration of its commitment to the LGBTIQA+ agenda. InBev, owner of Anheuser Busch brand Current star of this phenomenon is Anheuser Busch – InBev, the beer company behind the Budweiser brand. Anheuser, formerly a U.S. company headquartered…
In my last post, I wrote about the change made in January by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to its rules regarding the dispensing of Mifepristone, the chemical abortion drug, and the intentions of Walgreens and CVS to distribute it. I am writing today with an update of that article. 21 States said “No!”…
I’d like to start this article by wishing all of you a very happy 2023! Hopefully, it will prove to be more rewarding from an investment standpoint than the exceedingly disappointing 2022. Also disappointing is the recent, January 3rd, policy change by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that allows pharmacies to sell mifepristone. What…
“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20) Self-proclaimed Catholic Joe Biden, today signed an executive order forcing United States taxpayers to fund abortion travel with their tax dollars. Evil is called good…
CNA—A Vatican policy published Tuesday says that the Holy See’s financial investments cannot contradict Catholic teaching. The policy stipulates that Vatican investments should “be aligned with the teachings of the Catholic Church, with specific exclusions for financial investments which contradict its fundamental principles, such as the sanctity of life or the dignity of the human…
CNA—The Vatican’s “trial of the century”, scheduled to continue in September, has so far offered plenty of drama and raised numerous unanswered questions. One of the most sensitive, not just for Catholics who have donated money to the Vatican, is this: Was Peter’s Pence used to finance investments like the now infamous London property deal?…
CNA—The Vatican’s financial watchdog authority reported on Monday that it received 104 suspicious activity reports in 2021, an increase from the previous year. In a 35-page annual report, released on June 13, the Supervisory and Financial Information Authority (ASIF) said that it submitted 21 reports to the Vatican’s Promoter of Justice (prosecutor), the highest number…
CNA—Cardinal Angelo Becciu said Wednesday that he is blameless in the forced resignation of a Vatican auditor, because it came at Pope Francis’ request. Becciu was said to be responsible for the sudden firing in 2017 of the Vatican’s first auditor general, Libero Milone, as well as the cancelation of an internal audit. But during…
I began transforming into a Catholic investor while working as a portfolio manager for Northwestern Mutual Life. I had been a pro-life Catholic for a long time and was serving on the Wisconsin Right to Life Board of Directors. A stockbroker I worked with regularly approached me with a new idea for a stock to…
The London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) — once called the world’s most important number — is an interest-rate benchmark that has influenced borrowing costs for consumers, businesses, and investors around the world since 1986.1–2 It’s been quoted in five currencies (British pound, Swiss franc, Euro, Japanese yen, and U.S. dollar) from the daily submissions of…
On December 15, 2021, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the Federal Reserve System made a significant shift in monetary policy in response to rising inflation. The Committee accelerated the reduction of its bond-buying program in order to tighten the money supply and projected three increases in the benchmark federal funds rate in 2022,…
