Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, and Integral Ecology: Perspectives on a Critical Issue

The articles also share at least one other theme: the observation that too few people are influencing the fate of the earth. By controlling wealth and the policy process, a small elite is pursuing policies that challenge the sustainability of the planet. Indeed, attending to this concentration of power, influence, and wealth in the hands of the few has been at the center of social and Church policy since the second half of the 19th century (beginning with Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum). Pope Francis is hardly the first pope to lobby on behalf of those on the margins—papal documents have steadily moved toward supporting working people, recognizing their right to work, earn a living wage, and organize. The Holy Father thus continues this process of linking the social, economic, and political worlds to the spiritual world, a course of action which the articles published here demonstrate all too well. As a matter of fact, as will be argued in the conclusion of this editorial, these studies make clear that much more scholarly work and involvement in the workaday world POPE FRANCIS, LAUDATO SI’, AND INTEGRAL ECOLOGY PERSPECTIVES ON A CRITICAL ISSUE ALLEN P. TROPEA-GRAY College of Business Administration Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. agray2 [at] lmu.edu Journal of Management for Global Sustainability Volume 5, Issue 1, 2017: 1–18 © 2017 International Association of Jesuit Business Schools 2 Allen P. Tropea-Gray is needed if we hope to contribute constructively toward increasing the sustainability of our world.