Leo XIV, the apostolic exhortation Dilexi te.

The Pope arrives for an audience during the Jubilee of Missionaries and Migrants.
On Thursday, the Vatican published the first apostolic exhortation of Pope Leo XIV, on which Pope Francis began working, focusing on service to the poor. 

In a document called Dilexi te (I loved you), the Pope condemns the economy that kills, inequality, violence against women, malnutrition, and educational deprivation. 

He echoes Pope Francis’s appeal for migrants and calls on believers to expose injustice, because ‘structures of injustice must be destroyed by the power of good’.

The 121-point text follows the Church’s magisterium on poverty over the last 150 years. The Augustinian pope signed the document on 4 October, the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, following in the footsteps of his predecessors. St. John XXIII (Mater et magistra). (Mater et magistra), Paul VI. (Populorum Progressio), and John Paul II (Caritas in Veritate), who emphasised the ‘preferential relationship of the Church to the poor’. (Caritas in veritate), and Francis, who made caring for the poor one of the fundamental pillars of his pontificate.

Francis began
Work on this apostolic exhortation began under Pope Francis before his death. Similar to the 2013 encyclical Lumen fidei, written by Benedict XVI’s successor, this apostolic exhortation follows on from Pope Francis’s last encyclical, Dilexite nos, on the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

The connection between God’s love and love for the poor is strong: ‘Through them, God still has something to say’, says Pope Leo XIV.

On the wounded face of the poor, we find the imprint of the suffering of the innocent.

Robert Francis Prevost’s exhortation offers many stimuli for action and reflection on poverty: poverty of ‘those who do not have the means to live’, poverty of ‘those who are socially excluded’, but also ‘moral’, ‘spiritual’, or ‘cultural’ poverty. It also identifies new, ‘softer and more dangerous’ forms of poverty, which are associated with economic systems that have increased wealth but not justice.

Lack of justice is the root of social evil.

From this point of view, Leo XIV. Acknowledges that the United Nations has included poverty eradication among the Millennium Development Goals. However, there is still a long way to go, especially at a time when there is a ‘dictatorship of the economy that kills’ (92) and a ‘culture of discarding’ that ‘indifferently tolerates the fact that millions of people die of hunger or live in conditions unworthy of human beings’.

In fact, human rights do not apply equally to all.

The Pope therefore calls for a ‘change of mindset’ so that the dignity of every human person is ‘respected now, not tomorrow’.

Acceptance of migrants
Pope Francis devotes significant space to the topic of migration, drawing on the image of Alan Kurdi, a Syrian boy whose photograph on the beach made headlines around the world. ‘Similar events,’ he writes, ‘are unfortunately becoming more and more marginalised’. At the same time, he acknowledges the Church’s work among migrants.

As a mother, the Church walks alongside those who are displaced. Where the world sees threats, the Church sees children; where walls are built, the Church builds bridges. He knows that in every migrant we reject, it is Christ himself who is knocking on the community’s door.
Robert Prevost also recalls Francis’s famous ‘four verbs’: ‘Accept, protect, support, and incorporate’. He also adopts Pope Francis’s definition of the poor as ‘teachers of the gospel’.
Serving the poor is not an act of ‘top-down’, but a meeting of equals.

Peter’s successor describes women who suffer from exclusion, abuse, and violence as ‘double poor’. At the same time, he discusses the causes of poverty itself: ‘The poor are not here simply because of blind and bitter fate. Poverty is even less their choice. And yet there are still people who claim it, showing blindness and cruelty’. 

He points out that sometimes even Christians are infected with secular ideologies or political and economic attitudes that lead to unfair generalisations and deceptive conclusions. For instance, some believe that ‘the poor should only be cared for by the state’ or that ‘it would be better to leave them in poverty and teach them to work’. Proof of this is that almsgiving is rarely practised today and is often despised. The Pope, therefore, calls on us:

‘As Christians, let us not give up almsgiving. We need to practise it to touch the suffering bodies of the poor.
Leo XIV adds that in some Christian communities, “there is a complete lack of commitment to the most disadvantaged”. Be careful, as ‘there is an inseparable bond between our faith and the poor’. The risk is ‘decay’ or ‘spiritual worldliness’.

In contrast, the world of saints, blessed ones, and missionaries stands as a testament against this indifference. The Pope mentions Saint Francis of Assisi, Mother Teresa, and Saint Augustine, who said, ‘Anyone who claims to love God but has no compassion for the needy is a liar’, among others. The Pope also commemorates the work of religious orders for the sick, orphans, widows, beggars, and victims of slavery.

The tradition of these religious orders continues to this day. In fact, it has inspired new forms of action against modern forms of slavery, such as human trafficking, forced labour, sexual exploitation, and various addictions. When Christian love becomes flesh, it becomes liberating.

In the exhortation, the Pope also emphasises the importance of educating the poor, stating that it is an ‘obligation’ rather than an act of charity. He recalls the struggle of popular movements led by ‘leaders who were often suspected or even persecuted’. Finally, he turns to the whole People of God, requesting that ‘they sound, even in different ways, a voice that awakens, reveals and runs the risk of appearing crazy’.

Structures of injustice must be recognised and destroyed by the power of good (97).

Finally, Leo XIV calls on all of us to be evangelised by the poor, because they are not just a ‘social problem’ but are at the heart of the Church.