A Roman Catholic bank in Germany has apologised after admitting it bought stocks in defence, tobacco and birth control companies.

德国一家罗马天主教会银行承认其购买了国防、烟草和节育公司的股票并道歉。

The Catholic Church is staunchly against the use of the pill

Der Spiegel newspaper discovered the bank had invested 580,000 euros (£495,310, $826,674) in British arms company BAE Systems.

It also invested 160,000 euros in American birth control pill maker¹ Wyeth and 870,000 euros in tobacco companies.

The bank apologised for behaviour "not in keeping with ethical² standards".

Pax Bank has previously³ advertised ethical investment funds, specifically claiming to avoid arms and tobacco companies along with organisations that do not adhere to（坚持，依附） Catholic beliefs.

Since 1968 the Catholic church has condemned⁴ contraception（避孕） - a view emphatically upheld by current Pope Benedict XVI.

In the past he has called birth control a "grave sin".

A spokesman for Pax Bank said: "We will rectify⁵（矫正，改正） the mistakes immediately without negative consequences for our clients.

"Unfortunately in a few internal reviews, the critical investments in question were overlooked - we deeply regret this."

The spokesman thanked journalists for bringing the controversial（引起争议的） investments to its attention.