Leuven's Legacy of Dialogue

This chapter examines the evolving dialogue between Catholicism and psychoanalysis through the intellectual history of Leuven. Beginning with Pope Francis's (2024) call for scholars to “expand the boundaries of knowledge” by engaging life’s complexities, it traces earlier Catholic responses to modern psychology. Cardinal Désiré Mercier sought to integrate Thomistic philosophy with scientific psychology, while Fulton J. Sheen rejected psychoanalysis as a secular rival to theology. Father Joseph Nuttin, in contrast, critically engaged psychoanalysis, distinguishing its clinical insights from its worldview, while Jacques Lacan directly addressed Catholic audiences, framing desire and guilt as central ethical concerns. The chapter concludes with Pope Francis’s reflections on his own psychoanalytic experience during Argentina’s Dirty War, which informed his pastoral focus on mercy and attention to social realities “that do not work.” By placing Catholicism and psychoanalysis in dialogue, the chapter highlights their shared concern with conflict, freedom, and the search for meaning.