Dilexi Te: Apostolic Exhortation on Love for the Poor

Dilexi Te (“I Have Loved You”) is the first Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Leo XIV, inspired by a text that Pope Francis had begun preparing in the final months of his life. In it, Pope Leo takes up his predecessor’s reflections on the Church’s love for the poor and makes them his own, adding insights that mark the beginning of his pontificate. With a deep pastoral heart, Pope Leo calls every Christian to rediscover the living connection between Christ’s love and our care for those in need.

From the introduction: 

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. 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.  Through your work, your efforts to change unjust social structures or your 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).