- 09 October, 2025
ROME, October 10, 2025 — Pope Leo XIV‘s first apostolic exhortation, Dilexi Te (“I have loved you”), was promulgated on 9 October, the feast day of St. John Henry Newman. Here are nine key points about the document.
1.“Dilexi Te” focuses on love and care for the poor
The apostolic exhortation is addressed “to all Christians on love for the poor,” examining the topic through Scripture, Church teaching, and the witness of the saints.
2.Both Pope Francis and Pope Leo contributed to the exhortation
Pope Francis‘ fourth and final encyclical, Dilexit Nos (“He loved us”), on the human and divine love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, was published on 24 October 2024, nearly six months before his death. In the prologue, Pope Leo noted that the late pope had been preparing this exhortation on the Church’s care for the poor as a follow-up and had given it its title.
Pope Leo wrote, “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.”
3.Scripture and Church social teaching documents are referenced
“I often wonder, even though the teaching of Sacred Scripture is so clear about the poor, why many people continue to think that they can safely disregard the poor,” the exhortation states.
Dilexi Te uses Scripture to explore mercy and justice towards the poor, drawing on the Old and New Testaments; Jesus’ humbling himself to become man; his poverty; his words on the Last Judgement; performing works of mercy; and the command to love our neighbour as ourselves.
Several Church documents on social justice are also cited, including Rerum Novarum, Mater et Magistra, Populorum Progressio, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, Laborem Exercens, Caritas in Veritate, and texts from the Second Vatican Council.
4.It includes numerous saintly examples
Dilexi Te references at least 33 saints for their holiness in caring for the poor, sick, imprisoned, uneducated, or migrant.
St. Francis of Assisi’s embrace of poverty is highlighted early in the first chapter and again in a section on mendicant religious orders.
St. Stephen, the first martyr, and St. Lawrence, who presented the poor before Roman authorities saying, “These are the treasures of the church,” exemplify deacons performing their works of mercy in the early Church.
Early Church fathers Sts. Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp, and Justin Martyr are also cited for their teachings on works of mercy.
Sections of the exhortation are devoted to Sts. John Chrysostom and Augustine, including extensive quotes from their homilies and writings urging Christians to recognise Christ in those in need, affirming that almsgiving is a matter of justice, that God will not be outdone in generosity, and that “charity is not optional but a requirement of true worship.”
Other saints mentioned include Sts. Cyprian, John of God, Camillus de Lellis, Louise de Marillac, Basil the Great, Benedict, John of Matha, Felix of Valois, Peter Nolasco, Raymond of Peñafort, Clare of Assisi, Dominic de Guzmán, Joseph Calasanz, Marcellin Champagnat, John Baptist Scalabrini, Frances Cabrini, Teresa of Calcutta, Dulce of the Poor, Benedict Menni, Charles de Foucauld, Katharine Drexel, Oscar Romero, John Paul II, Gregory the Great, and Gregory of Nazianzus for their words, actions, or instructions regarding care for the poor.
5.Works of mercy, spiritual care, and almsgiving are emphasised
“Works of mercy are recommended as a sign of the authenticity of worship, which, while giving praise to God, has the task of opening us to the transformation that the Spirit can bring about in us, so that we may all become an image of Christ and his mercy towards the weakest.”
The exhortation cites the lives of saints as examples of performing works of mercy. Pope Leo stresses the spiritual dimension of caring for the poor, notes that almsgiving is a matter of justice, and affirms that helping the poor with better employment enhances their human dignity and participation in God’s creation.
6.Indifference to the plight of the poor is addressed
“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.”
The exhortation rebukes societal and Christian indifference toward the suffering poor.
7.God has a preferential option for the poor
The document repeatedly highlights a preferential option for the poor. “This ‘preference’ never indicates exclusivity or discrimination towards other groups, which would be impossible for God. It is meant to emphasise God’s actions, which are moved by compassion toward the poverty and weakness of all humanity.
Wanting to inaugurate a kingdom of justice, fraternity and solidarity, God has a special place in his heart for those who are discriminated against and oppressed, and he asks us, his Church, to make a decisive and radical choice in favour of the weakest.”
8.Some elements may be controversial
Some factions within the Church and society may find parts of the document controversial.
Sister Emmanuelle Cinquin, who lived and worked among poor trash gatherers in Cairo, Egypt, but held unorthodox opinions on contraception and clerical celibacy, is cited as a witness to working with the poorest of the poor.
The document also references the 1984 Instruction on Certain Aspects of the ‘Theology of Liberation’ from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which critiques liberation theology.
Pope Leo quotes Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then CDF prefect and future Pope Benedict XVI: “The defenders of orthodoxy are sometimes accused of passivity, indulgence, or culpable complicity regarding the intolerable situations of injustice and the political regimes which prolong them. … The concern for the purity of the faith demands giving the answer of effective witness in the service of one’s neighbour, the poor and the oppressed in particular, in an integral theological fashion.”
The section on “popular movements” acknowledges that lay movements addressing poverty, inequality, labour injustices, and other social issues have often faced suspicion or persecution. Dilexi Te stresses that institutions and governments must include these movements in conversations on the needs of the poor.
The exhortation also addresses the Church’s work with migrants, expressed today through refugee reception centres, border missions, and the efforts of Caritas Internationalis and other institutions, affirming the Church’s mission to all living on the peripheries.
9.It begins and ends with Jesus’ words
Dilexi Te opens and closes with the words of Jesus: “I have loved you (Rev. 3:9),” spoken to his humble, persecuted Church.
Source: OSV News
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