Modern economies tend to analyse inequality by focusing on material variables, while forgetting that markets and institutions are first of all places of meaning. This paper argues that spiritual capital—understood as the shared stock of trust, values, narratives, and moral motivations—is a decisive but largely invisible dimension of economic life. When spiritual capital is abundant, cooperation becomes possible and inclusion is sustainable; when it is depleted, economic systems may continue to function technically, yet they increasingly generate fragmentation, exclusion, and loss of dignity. Inequalities, in this perspective, are not only the result of unequal resources, but also of impoverished symbolic and relational worlds. The paper draws on the figure of Francis of Assisi, whose experience represents a radical reconfiguration of wealth and poverty. Francis did not reject wealth in itself, but the kind of wealth that breaks relationships and silences the poor. His understanding of poverty as a relational condition reveals that economic life cannot be reduced to contracts and incentives alone. By reconnecting economy with fraternity, Francis shows that spiritual capital is not an optional ethical surplus, but a structural condition for a humane economy. The paper concludes by suggesting that religious traditions, through figures such as Francis, offer essential insights for understanding the spiritual roots of inequality and for imagining economic systems capable of sustaining dignity, reciprocity, and shared vulnerability.