Dr. Lorna Gold, Executive Director, Laudato Si’ Movement
Recent commentary questioning whether Catholic investors are simply “jumping on the divestment bandwagon” risks misunderstanding the profound process of discernment that many Church institutions have undertaken in recent years.
The growing number of Catholic dioceses, religious congregations, universities, and foundations choosing to divest from fossil fuels is not the result of trend-following. It is the fruit of prayer, moral reflection, scientific evidence, and pastoral responsibility.
To suggest otherwise overlooks the real courage it has taken for Church institutions to act.
Over the past decade, Catholic leaders across the world have engaged deeply with the moral challenge posed by the climate crisis. Inspired by Laudato Si’ by Pope Francis, many institutions began a serious process of ecological discernment. This has involved trustees, finance committees, theologians, scientists, and pastoral leaders asking difficult questions: Can we continue to profit from activities that are driving climate breakdown? What responsibility do we have to the poor, who suffer first and worst from environmental destruction? How should Catholic institutions align their investments with their mission?
For many, the answers have been neither simple nor comfortable. Divestment decisions often follow years of internal debate, financial analysis, and spiritual reflection. They involve navigating fiduciary responsibilities, pension commitments, and complex investment portfolios.
These are not the actions of institutions casually joining a trend.
They are the actions of institutions taking the Gospel seriously.
To date, nearly 400 Catholic institutions worldwide have publicly committed to fossil fuel divestment. These include the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland and all Scottish Catholic dioceses, the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference, more than two-thirds of Catholic dioceses in England and Wales, Caritas Internationalis, Jesuits in Britain and St Mary’s University, London. Many of these decisions were made well before divestment became widely discussed in financial circles.
These commitments have been acts of moral leadership.
They send a powerful signal that the Church recognises the growing incompatibility between safeguarding creation and financing the continued expansion of fossil fuels. They also reflect the widening understanding that the energy transition is not only a moral imperative but increasingly an economic reality.
At the same time, it is important to acknowledge the diversity of discernment processes taking place across Catholic institutions. Some have concluded that a strategy combining divestment with forms of strategic engagement is the most responsible path forward. Others have prioritised full divestment in order to send a clear moral signal and remove any association with the expansion of fossil fuels.
Both approaches reflect the complexity of the issue and the responsibility of Catholic investors to exercise careful moral and financial judgment. What matters most is that these decisions are rooted in serious discernment and a genuine desire to align investments with Catholic social teaching.
Arguably, divestment has become a moral imperative, as major oil and gas companies have rowed back on climate pledges in recent years. Shell has scrapped its 2035 climate target to continue growing its gas business, while BP has abandoned its pledge to cut oil and gas production by 2030.
Furthermore, fossil fuel companies have themselves recognised the impact of divestment. Shell’s 2025 annual report highlights that if this trend were to increase, it “could have a material adverse effect on the price of our securities and our ability to access capital markets” — making it more expensive to raise funds for continued exploration and extraction of new fossil fuels.
The urgency of this conversation is only growing, including by the publication of the recent Manifesto of the Churches of the Global South calling for an orderly and just fossil fuel phase out and a Fossil Fuel Treaty. In the coming months, states, Church leaders, scientists, and civil society actors will gather at a summit in Santa Marta, Colombia to reflect on the moral responsibility in responding to the climate crisis by agreeing on a roadmap to end fossil fuels.
These discussions are taking place against an increasingly volatile global backdrop. New geopolitical tensions in the Middle East — often described as an emerging “oil war” — are yet another reminder of how deeply our world remains entangled in fossil fuel dependence. Energy insecurity, conflict, economic instability, and environmental degradation are all symptoms of a system that is reaching its limits with no clear plan to transition away from fossil fuels.
For faith communities, this raises profound moral questions. As Pope Francis reminds us in Laudato Si’, “everything is connected.” Our financial choices, our energy systems, and our commitment to peace and justice cannot be separated.
Catholic institutions proclaim care for creation, justice for the poor, and responsibility for future generations. Aligning investment practices with these values is therefore a matter of integrity. When Church institutions choose to divest from fossil fuels, they are ensuring that their financial resources no longer undermine the very mission they seek to advance.
This is not about symbolic gestures. It is about coherence between faith and action.
Respectful debate about the best pathways for faith-based investing is welcome. The Church has always valued thoughtful engagement on complex ethical questions.
But we should also recognise and honour the courage shown by those who have taken difficult decisions in response to the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor.
The Catholic institutions that have chosen to divest from fossil fuels are not following a bandwagon.
They are responding to a moral call — and helping lead the transition toward an economy that truly serves life, peace, and the common good.