For the last three weeks I have been excited to hear about and begin engaging Pope Leo XIV’s first major document, Dilexi Te (I Have Loved You). In this Apostolic Exhortation, he stresses that love for the poor is the hallmark of faith. The Pope makes a strong case that “God has a special place in his heart for the poor” and asks the church “to make a decisive and radical choice in favor of the weakest” (#16). What a powerful document for our contemporary world!
Pope Leo signed the document October 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, and the Vatican released the text October 9. The document was begun by Pope Francis, but Pope Leo added to it and wanted to issue it near the beginning of his papacy “since I share the desire of my beloved predecessor that all Christians come to appreciate the close connection between Christ’s love and his summons to care for the poor” (#3).
The connection, the Pope says, is not new or modern nor an invention of Pope Francis, but throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, “God’s love is vividly demonstrated by his protection of the weak and the poor, to the extent that he can be said to have a particular fondness for them. The entire history of our redemption is marked by the presence of the poor “(#17).
The Pope describes Jesus himself as “the poor Messiah” that “by his Incarnation, he ‘emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness’ (Phil 2:7), and in that form he brought us salvation” (#18). “The Gospel shows us that poverty marked every aspect of Jesus’ life” (#19).
Pope Leo’s conviction is that caring for the poor will be “a source of an extraordinary renewal both for the Church and for society, if we can only set ourselves free from self-centeredness and open our ears to their cry” (#7). He invites us to open our eyes today to the cry of the poor and move away from self-centeredness, using the model of the Good Samaritan. Are we indifferent to the pain around us? (#107) Have we gotten use to turning away, walking by, or ignoring the situations of the poor? (#105) Do we abandon the needy? (#107)
The Holy Father highlights that “no Christian can regard the poor simply as a societal problem; they are part of our ‘family’. They are ‘one of us.’ Nor can our relationship to the poor be reduced to merely another ecclesial activity or function” (#104).
Dilexi Te also emphasizes that “the poorest are not only objects of our compassion, but teachers of the Gospel. It is not a question of ‘bringing’ God to them, but of encountering him among them” (#79) because “while it is true that the rich care for the poor, the opposite is no less true. This is a remarkable fact confirmed by the entire Christian tradition. Lives can actually be turned around by the realization that the poor have much to teach us about the Gospel and its demands” (#109).
The Apostolic Exhortation includes a separate section on migrants, with the Pope writing, “The Church has always recognized in migrants a living presence of the Lord, who, on the day of judgment, will say to those on his right: ‘I was a stranger, and you welcomed me’(Matt. 25:35). Where the world sees threats, the church sees children; where walls are built, she builds bridges. Every rejected migrant is Christ himself who knocks at the door of the community” (#73,75).
Pope Leo also urges that Christians address “structures of sin that create poverty and extreme inequality” (#90). He says that the church must resolve the structural causes of poverty and inequality, and that our charitable works, while essential to responding to our neighbor’s need, must be considered “merely provisional” (#94).
What the Pope is expressing is an examination of conscience for all of us. How can I contribute to promoting human dignity, building bridges, supporting efforts to accompany those who are the “least”? Do I join with others to denounce the structures of injustice? To promote opportunities for work?
Sections #53-58 were very striking to me as a Benedictine. Pope Leo describes how monastic life from the desert monks to St. Basil, to St. Benedict, to St. Bernard of Clairvaux shows “that to be close to God, one must be close to the poor” (#54). He concludes the section poignantly, “Monastic life, if faithful to its original vocation, shows that the Church is fully the bride of the Lord only when she is also the sister of the poor…contemplation does not exclude mercy, but demands it as its purest fruit” (#58).
The Pope reminds all of us that Christians cannot stand idly by while the global economic system penalizes the poor and makes some people exceedingly wealthy (#92). His last words are revelatory: “A Church that sets no limits to love, that knows no enemies to fight but only men and women to love is the Church that the world needs today. Love is above all a way of looking at life and a way of living it” (#120).
If you would like to read the Apostolic Exhortation, Dilexit Te, you can access it on the Vatican website at this link:https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/apost_exhortations/documents/20251004-dilexi-te.html
Other resources can be found on the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB) website: https://www.usccb.org/dilexi-te
By Sister Madeline Contorno, OSB
Photo: Sacred Heart Monastery Chapel window