“I have loved you.” The apostolic exhortation “Dilexi Te” begins with this simple declaration of love from the Book of Revelation. The new exhortation was a collaborative effort, written by both Pope Francis and Pope Leo, a great continuity between the writing of the two popes. Speaking at the launch, Cardinal Michael Czerny SJ said that the pontificate-straddling document was “100 per cent Francis and 100 per cent Leo”.
Pope Francis was preparing the exhortation in the last months of his life, as a follow up to his encyclical Dilexit nos. Pope Leo states in the text, “Having received this project as an inheritance, I am happy to make it my own – adding some reflections – and to propose it again at the beginning of my pontificate, sharing the desire of my beloved predecessor that all Christians may perceive the strong connection that exists between the love of Christ and his call to make us close to the poor.”
Christian love breaks down every barrier, brings close those who were distant, unites strangers, and reconciles enemies. It spans chasms that are humanly impossible to bridge, and it penetrates to the most hidden crevices of society.
By its very nature, Christian love is prophetic: it works miracles and knows no limits. It makes what was apparently impossible happen. Love is above all a way of looking at life and a way of living it. 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. (Delixi te 120).
A Love that calls for reciprocation
On Thursday , 9th October 2025 Pope Leo XIV released “Dilexi Te” as a document that can be read as a personal invitation to action!
Welcoming the publication of this first major document of Pope Leo’s pontificate, Bishop Alan McGuckian SJ, Chair of the Council for Migrants, Refugees and Justice and Peace of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said that it provided a comprehensive overview of the Church’s teaching, tradition and practice in hearing and responding to the cry of the poor over the centuries, as well as a serious call to action in our own times. The Pope also refers to the importance of caring for creation and its link to poverty and the vulnerable.
On a first reading what strikes one is the accessibility of the language and the comprehensive grounding of its content in scripture and in, and through the lives of those taken by the ‘call of God’ to be Christian.
The document manages to articulate the ‘yearning of our hearts’ to live so as to bring about change for all those kept poor by political, societal and social systems that generate consistent poverty of opportunity and a lack of compassionate care and support.
“Ultimately, this document speaks of love that becomes a mission, a mission that moves us from places of comfort to works of compassion and service in closeness with those who are poor. Pope Leo speaks of us being “asked to enter into the heart of God, who is always concerned for the needs of his children, especially those in greatest need.” (Dilexi te 8) [Bishop Alan McGuckian SJ, Chair of the Council for Migrants, Refugees and Justice and Peace of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference]
The poor as part of us all
The Holy Father is very clear that in dealing with the various forms of poverty in our world today, we need to be committed to eliminating the structural causes of poverty and related inflictions. He rightly notes that this cannot be delayed because “society needs to be cured of a sickness which is weakening and frustrating it and which can only lead to new crises”. (Dilexi te 94)
The Pope states that no Christian can simply regard the poor as a societal issue alone. The poor are part of us all, part of our Church family too, and in need of accompaniment on our journey to eternal life. In this regard, he reminds us of the words of Saint John Paul II who taught that ‘the preferential option for the poor, namely the Church’s love for the poor, is essential for her and a part of her constant tradition, and impels her to give attention to a world in which poverty is threatening to assume massive proportions in spite of technological and economic progress.’ (Dilexi te 104)
See Bishop McGuckian welcomes Pope Leo’s first major document
Frédéric-Marie le Méhauté, OFM, speaking to Vatican News about Pope Leo XIV’s new apostolic exhortation “Dilexi te,” on love for the poor said:
“I think the theological analysis of our commitment to the poor is very important. We sometimes think: OK, I go to church, I like Jesus, I go to Mass, and, in order to be a good person, I need to help the poor. In other words, we see the commitment to the poor as a consequence of our faith.
Pope Leo teaches us here that our commitment to the poor, living with the poor, living like the poor, is the place where we receive Revelation, where we receive the Gospel.
There’s no other place to do that, other than through our encounter with the poor. For me, this is very, very important. I do not care for the poor because I’m Christian. Firstly, I care for the poor, and then I receive Revelation. Only then do I come to know who the true God is”.
See HERE
The many forms of poverty
There are many forms of poverty, Pope Leo says – the poverty of those who lack material means of support, the poverty of those who are socially marginalised and lack the means to express their dignity and abilities, moral and spiritual poverty, cultural poverty, that of those who find themselves in a condition of personal or social weakness or fragility, the poverty of those who have no rights, no space, no freedom.
“In this sense, it can be said that commitment to the poor and to eliminating the social and structural causes of poverty, while having become important in recent decades, remains insufficient; also because the societies in which we live often favour life- and political-orientation criteria marked by numerous inequalities. Therefore, new forms of poverty, sometimes more subtle and dangerous, are added to the old forms of poverty that we have become aware of and are trying to combat. From this perspective, it is to be welcomed that the United Nations has established the eradication of poverty as one of the Millennium Development Goals.”
See ‘Society must rediscover its moral and spiritual dignity or risk falling into a ‘pit of filth’‘, by Ruth Gledhill for The Tablet: HERE
The power to change reality
Charity has the power to change reality; it is a genuine force for change in history, Pope Leo writes, it is the source that must inspire and guide every effort to resolve the structural causes of poverty, and to do so with urgency. We need to hear the cry of entire peoples, the poorest peoples of the earth.
Unjust structures need to be recognised and eradicated by the force of good, by changing mindsets …. by developing effective policies for societal change. It must never be forgotten that the Gospel message has to do not only with an individual’s personal relationship with the Lord, but also with something greater: “the Kingdom of God (cf. Lk 4:43); it is about loving God who reigns in our world. To the extent that he reigns within us, the life of society will be a setting for universal fraternity, justice, peace and dignity. Both Christian preaching and life, then, are meant to have an impact on society. We are seeking God’s Kingdom.”
One aspect of the option for the poor that we must constantly keep in mind, is namely that it demands of us an attitude of attentiveness to others.
“This loving attentiveness is the beginning of a true concern for their person which inspires me effectively to seek their good. This entails appreciating the poor in their goodness, in their experience of life, in their culture, and in their ways of living the faith. True love is always contemplative, and permits us to serve the other not out of necessity or vanity, but rather because he or she is beautiful above and beyond mere appearances… Only on the basis of this real and sincere closeness can we properly accompany the poor on their path of liberation.”
In light of this, it is evident that all of us must “let ourselves be evangelised” by the poor and acknowledge “the mysterious wisdom which God wishes to share with us through them.”
Growing up in precarious circumstances, learning to survive in the most adverse conditions, trusting in God with the assurance that no one else takes them seriously, and helping one another in the darkest moments, the poor have learned many things that they keep hidden in their hearts. Those of us who have not had similar experiences of living this way certainly have much to gain from the source of wisdom that is the experience of the poor. Only by relating our complaints to their sufferings and privations can we experience a reproof that can challenge us to simplify our lives. (Dilexi te 120)
And the word became flesh
We do not need to seek for him
in starry veils of blinding light.
He came and shared our commonness
our need for sleep, for food, for rest,
the heat, the rain, the cold, the dust,
the sweat of toil, the pride of work,
the simple passing words of friends, anxiety and hope and fear.
life’s laughter, and its unshed tears.
His hand on all common things,
and they are pregnant with His life.
The very stones cry out His name
Each cup of water brims His love,
and broken bread proclaims the mystery.
~ Sr. Raphael Consedine, PBVM (Christmas 1978)
To download the full text of the apostolic exhortation Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi te of the Holy Father Leo XIV on Love for the Poor (4 October 2025)
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