Pope Leo XIV presents Dilexi te: apostolic exhortation on love for the poor, denouncing inequalities, violence and an economy that kills.
Pope Leo XIV presented «Dilexi you» (I loved you). The genesis of the title is in the Book of Revelation and represents a manifesto of wedding ringOf hope and of Christian charity. With this document, Robert Francis Prevost opens his Pontificate under the sign of a Church sensitive to poverty. A Church that welcomes those who are alone, fragile and forgotten.
The Exhortation, concise but profound, recalls the great masters of Christian spirituality. Among these, Saint Augustine, Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Francis of Assisi are mentioned. The document forcefully reaffirms that God prefers the small, the weak, the marginalized. “It will be possible for that poor person to feel that the words of Jesus are for him: ‘I have loved you’”, writes Leo XIV in the last lines of the text, which summarize the message of mercy contained in the document.
In the wake of his predecessors and social teaching
The Augustinian Pope follows the footsteps of his predecessors: John XXIII with the Mater et MagistraPaul VI with the Populorum ProgressioJohn Paul II with the doctrine of “preference for the poor”, Benedict XVI with the Caritas in Veritateand Francesco with the Dilexit Nos.
Leo hard-working charityconcrete liberation, social justice.
The “faces” of poverty and new forms of exclusion
The document analyzes the different forms of poverty: material, moral, spiritual and cultural. Leo XIV denounces the “throwaway culture” and false faith in a “self-regulating market,” while millions of people survive in undignified conditions. “In fact – he warns – human rights are not the same for everyone”.
The Pontiff also speaks of new poverty“more subtle and dangerous”, born from a society that measures happiness on possession and success. He then exhorts one transformation of mentalityfounded on equity and solidarity.
Migrants, women, education: the frontiers of charity
Ample space is also reserved for migration: the Pope recalls the face of little Alan Kurdi, symbol of innocent suffering, and calls on Christians to overcome indifference.
Leo XIV also denounces the violence and exclusion of womendefined as “doubly poor”. He reiterated right to education as the foundation of human dignity, citing the virtuous model of Saint Joseph Calasanz, founder of the first free popular school.
The voice of the Church against injustice
In the last pages, Pope Leo XIV invites believers to “make a voice heard that complaints“, because “the structures ofinjustice they must be destroyed with the force of good”. Serving the poor, in this sense, is not a top-down gesture, but a meeting between equals: “When the Church bends over the poor, it assumes its highest posture”.
Poverty, according to Prevost, is not an accident of history but an effect of very specific economic and cultural choices. “The poor do not exist by chance – he states – and anyone who attributes their condition to a lack of merit shows blindness and cruelty”.
A Church evangelized by the poor
Dilexi you it ends with a strong appeal: “It is necessary that we all allow ourselves to be evangelized by the poor”. For Leo XIV, in fact, the poor are not a social problem, but the very heart of the Church. And in their faces the living Gospel is reflected, the flesh of Christ who died on the cross for humanity.
A message that appears to be a true program of the Magisterium: building a Christian community capable of denouncing injustices and bearing witness to a love that translates into real and concrete service.
What Dilexi tells us about you
Prevost’s choice to place the poor and vulnerable at the center of ecclesial life represents a great sign courage And Of authentic Christian spirit. After the Magisterium of Bergoglio, a reserved but concrete Pope like Leo XIV could mark a spiritual rebirth for many Christians. The recovery of a spirituality that brings us closer to the Church and the Christian faith.
The new Pontiff is proving to be a shepherd who walks together with his flock, a man who listens and loves the faithful. The current world is often excessively dominated by individualism and selfishness. “Dilexi te” instead resonates like a sweet but firm song of brotherhood. And it reminds us that God does not exclude anyone from his love.
