Praise Rather Than Solving Problems: Understanding the Doxological Turn of Laudato Si’ through Lonergan

Abstract

This article employs the thought of Bernard Lonergan to understand the significance of Pope Francis’s doxological and eucharistic emphases in Laudato Si’. By drawing parallels between Lonergan’s identification of “general bias” (along with the “longer cycle of decline”) and Francis’s identification of the “technocratic paradigm” (along with its “ironclad logic”), the article shows why Francis makes doxology and the Eucharist central for the care of our common home and the implementation of an integral ecology that answers the cries of the earth and the poor. This conversation illustrates the radical, while pastorally focused, character of ecclesial mission outlined by Francis in Laudato Si’.