Pope Leo XIV’s inaugural Apostolic Exhortation, “Dilexi te” provides a theological and practical roadmap for the Church’s engagement with the modern world, centring entirely on the ‘Incarnation of Christ’ as the definitive model for Christian love and social action. Signed on 4 October this year, the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, the document addresses all Christians and the global Church with an urgent call to make the care for the poor the touchstone of authentic faith.
“Dilexi Te” (Latin for “I have loved you”) derives its title from Revelation 3:9 and consciously echoes Pope Francis’ encyclical “Dilexit Nos” (“He loved us”). Pope Leo writes:
In continuity with the Encyclical Dilexit Nos, Pope Francis was preparing in the last months of his life an Apostolic Exhortation on the Church’s care for the poor, to which he gave the title Dilexi Te, as if Christ speaks those words to each of them, saying: “You have but little power,” yet “I have loved you” (Rev 3:9). I am happy to make this document my own – adding some reflections – and to issue it at the beginning of my own pontificate, 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. (DT 3)
The heart of the message of Dilexi Te is that love of God and love for the poor are inseparable; it describes service to those in poverty as the “evangelical hallmark of a Church faithful to the heart of God”. The poor are not merely a demographic category but are “the very flesh of Christ”; indifference or disregard for them constitutes a betrayal of the Gospel. The Pope calls the faithful to encounter Christ Himself in the poor – in those suffering material, social, spiritual, or moral poverty – and makes clear that this encounter is integral, not peripheral, to the Christian vocation. The Son of God, in the very act of entering into our world, “became poor for our sake.” Jesus took on human flesh that experiences hunger, thirst, sickness, and imprisonment. “We came to know him in the smallness of a child laid in a manger and in the extreme humiliation of the cross, where he shared our radical poverty, which is death.” (DT 16) This self-emptying, or kenosis, of Christ establishes a fundamental principle: love for God cannot be separated from love for “the last, the least and the lost” of humanity. This theological conviction is the wellspring from which all the document’s specific calls to action emerge, transforming social engagement from a moral duty into a sacramental encounter with the Incarnate God.
Structurally, Dilexi te comprises 121 paragraphs spread across five chapters. While deeply rooted in Scripture, the Exhortation also serves to re-propose the Church’s social teaching, particularly drawing upon the rich magisterial tradition of the past 150 years. Pope Leo emphasizes the continuity of this teaching, describing the accumulated body of social encyclicals and apostolic letters as “a veritable treasury of significant teachings” concerning the poor.
Some of the key themes of this document are:
- Christian love must break down barriers and promote solidarity, reconciliation, and inclusion, especially for the marginalized such as the sick, migrants, slaves, victims of violence, women experiencing exclusion, and all who lack dignity or freedom.
- Both charitable action (almsgiving) and social transformation (addressing structural injustices, advocating for systemic change) are required. The two paths are complementary; we cannot choose just one.
- The “preferential option for the poor” is not about exclusivity or partiality but about God’s compassionate movement toward suffering humanity, and His call for the Church to make the same decisive, radical choice.
- The dignity of every human person demands urgent respect “today, not tomorrow”. The document firmly dismisses economic and political excuses for delay.
- It encourages practical measures: supporting decent work, opposing social systems that perpetuate poverty, promoting just policies, and sustaining ongoing, personal relationships with those in need.
The document directly challenges common excuses Christians make to avoid helping the poor.
There are those who say: “Our task is to pray and teach sound doctrine.” Separating this religious aspect from integral development, they even say that it is the government’s job to care for them, or that it would be better not to lift them out of their poverty but simply to teach them to work. At times, pseudo-scientific data are invoked to support the claim that a free market economy will automatically solve the problem of poverty. Or even that we should opt for pastoral work with the so-called elite, since, rather than wasting time on the poor, it would be better to care for the rich, the influential and professionals, so that with their help real solutions can be found and the Church can feel protected. It is easy to perceive the worldliness behind these positions, which would lead us to view reality through superficial lenses, lacking any light from above, and to cultivate relationships that bring us security and a position of privilege. (DT 114)
The Apostolic Exhortation concludes by emphasizing almsgiving; i.e., directly giving to the poor, which the Pope says has fallen out of fashion even among Christians. While almsgiving will not solve world poverty, it transforms our hearts. Our love and convictions must be continually cultivated through concrete actions, not just ideas and theories, because without practical acts of charity, even our best hopes and aspirations will eventually weaken and disappear. Almsgiving brings a touch of piety into a society obsessed with personal gain. Says Pope Leo, “it is always better at least to do something rather than nothing.” (DT 199)
Christian love knows no boundaries – it bridges every distance, draws together strangers, and reconciles former adversaries as family. Prophetic in spirit, such love works wonders and remains without limits. A Church that refuses to restrict love, seeing no enemies but countless men and women to embrace, is precisely the kind of Church that contemporary society longs for. Through our work, our efforts to change unjust social structures or our simple, heartfelt gesture of closeness and support, “the poor will come to realize that Jesus’ words are addressed personally to each of them: ‘I have loved you’ (Rev 3:9).” (DT 121)