SPIRITUAL CAPITAL
Research Group
Twelve months, multiple disciplinary perspectives, one international group… for a new economy with a “soul”
What is this project about?
This research group is part of the wider research project “Spiritual and Narrative Capital as an Economic, Social and Institutional Resource”, developed within the Economy of Francesco Foundation’s 2026–2027 research grants, with the support of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) – Service for the Promotion of Economic Support to the Catholic Church (SPSE).
Between July 2026 and June 2027, the research group will explore and develop the notion of “spiritual capital” as an analytical category contributing to contemporary debates on economy, society and integral human development. Particular attention will be dedicated to the theoretical groundwork required for the concept of “spiritual capital” to be defined, tested, contested and put to use within the alternative economic models explored by EoF.
What is spiritual capital? (How) can it be measured? Can the concept be given a definition precise enough to be useful and open enough to remain authentic? What would qualitative and quantitative approaches each capture — and what would each necessarily miss? In which contexts is spiritual capital generated, and in which is it eroded?
These and other questions will be pursued by an international group convened by the Principal Investigator. Drawing together economics, philosophy, theology, the social sciences and literary and cultural studies, the group will develop its inquiry along three main strands:
- Conceptual -> Defining the dimensions, scope and limits of spiritual capital through critical engagement with existing scholarship and with the reflections on the topic that have grown within EoF since its foundation.
- Interpretive -> Approaching narratives of different kinds, such as testimonies, archive materials, literary texts, records of devotion, life-writing, as epistemic resources on past and present experiences of spiritual capital and reading them as examples of practices and experiences overlooked by mainstream economic categories.
- Applied -> Examining concrete cases in which the theorised aspects of spiritual capital are expressed and evaluated, and assessing the empirical tools available for measuring it, along with their limits.
Why now?
The urgency of this research is not merely academic. Addressing the Economy of Francesco community at Assisi in September 2022, Pope Francis observed how “the first capital of any society is spiritual capital” and that spiritual unsustainability is at the heart of contemporary capitalism. In this sense, spiritual capital can represent a patrimony accumulated over centuries by (different) religious traditions and expressions of popular devotion — a patrimony currently drawn down without replenishment with consequences especially hard for young people. As Pope Francis explained:Â
“[spiritual capital] gives us a reason to get up every morning and go to work, and engenders the joy of living that is also necessary for the economy. Our world is quickly consuming this essential kind of capital […]. Consequently, young people especially suffer from this lack of meaning: faced with the pain and uncertainties of life, they often find their souls depleted of the spiritual resources needed to process suffering, frustration, disappointment and grief. Go and look at the percentage of suicide among young people, and how the numbers are going up. They do not even publish everything, and sometimes hide the figures. The fragility of many young people comes from a lack of this precious spiritual capital — an invisible but more real capital than financial or technological capital.”
Spiritual capital can thus be seen as a fundamental resource for societies, and the way this form of capital relates to dynamics of care, well-being and collective flourishing deserves close attention.
Among the objectives of the research group are understanding how such capital is generated, how it is passed between generations, and how it might inform economic and institutional practice, in the service of the new economic paradigm that the Economy of Francesco is building.
The Research Group: A ConstellationÂ
The Spiritual Capital EoF Research Group is organised as an in-progress constellation of international scholars, in which different competences, perspectives and disciplinary backgrounds are brought into conversation. The group meets regularly for reflection and collaborative writing, and just as regularly submits its work to the supervision of qualified reviewers. This collective, pluralistic and steady work of knowledge production allows theoretical proposals to be tested against the empirical cases the project examines, and revised where they do not hold.
Principal Investigator
Stefano Rozzoni holds a joint-PhD in Transcultural Studies in Humanities and in Literary and Cultural Studies. He is a postdoctoral research fellow and lecturer at the University of Bergamo. Active in EoF, he co-edited with Plinio Limata The Economy of Francesco. A Glossary to Repair the Language of Economics (UCP Editora, 2024).
Core Research GroupÂ
The Core Research Group carries the theoretical work of the project’s opening phase, establishing the conceptual ground on which the later strands depend. Four scholars with complementary expertise in economics, philosophy, theology and literary studies take responsibility for definition, genealogy, measurement and critical scrutiny of the concept.Â
- Stefano Rozzoni (University of Bergamo)
- Paolo Santori (LUMSA University) Associate Professor in History of Economic Thought. He was formerly employed by Tilburg University (The Netherlands). His research interests lie in the philosophy of economics, history of economic thought and business ethics.
- Tommaso Bertolasi (FacoltĂ Teologica dell’Italia Centrale)Â lecturer in metaphysics. His research interests concern the relationship between philosophy and theology.
- Matteo Alessandro Ruberto (SUPSI) holds a PhD in Civil Economy Sciences and is currently a researcher at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI) in Lugano. His research interests focus on behavioral economics, demography and care.Â
Research Group FellowsÂ
Research Group Fellows are invited contributors who test the concept against practice. Working on concrete cases and drawing on empirical evidence, they examine how spiritual capital is generated, understood and transmitted in settings such as enterprises, care and welfare services, educational institutions, social innovation initiatives and public policy.
To be announced
Distinguished AdvisorsÂ
Distinguished Advisors bring senior professional experience to bear on the research. Drawn from business, the professions, and public life, they are invited to advise on the direction of the inquiry, to identify the questions of greatest consequence for those working in the field, and to assess where the group’s conclusions hold against practice and where they require revision.
To be announced
Timeline and next steps (in progress)
1 July 2026 — Kick-off. The project formally began and the Core Research Group was constituted.
July 2026 — Conference presentation. “Inequalities and Spiritual Capital: Proposing a Goal 0 for the UN 2030 Agenda”, delivered at the European Academy of Religion Annual Conference, LUISS University, Rome
August 2026 — Conceptual groundwork. Focused work within the Core Research Group to establish the conceptual and methodological foundations of the project.
9 September 2026 — Online workshop. “Spiritual Capital: Notes from an EoF Research Journey” [CLICK HERE to register]
The work continues, and this webpage will be updated as it does. Further workshops and online sessions are planned over the coming months, offering occasions to follow the research as it develops and to bring your own questions to it. Announcements will be shared through the EoF channels — we would be glad to have you with us!
Get in touch!
For further information please contact the Principal Investigator of the project at: [email protected]
