Leo XIV's first apostolic exhortation, Dilexi te ("I have loved you"), signed on October 4, 2025, and published on October 9, deserves our attention more than some of the pope's interviews, which are sometimes given excessive media coverage. We are faced not with a few words, but with a comprehensive document comprising 121 paragraphs, divided into five chapters plus an introduction. As has been noted, it is not a social encyclical, but an apostolic exhortation. An encyclical is a doctrinal document, while an apostolic exhortation is a pastoral document, which does not define principles, but exhorts us to behave in a certain way.
Pope Leo clarifies that Dilexi te stems from a project already initiated by Pope Francis, which he has made his own, adding personal reflections. However, while the theme of poverty is "Bergoglian," the approach is not the same. Pope Francis seemed to push for active political and social commitment, while Leo XIV calls for a moral and charitable commitment. Francis attributed a predominant role to movements as architects of social justice; Leo refers to them in a generic and subordinate manner, and between the two poles of justice and charity, around which the debate on the social question has revolved over the last century, he seems to attribute a primary role to charity.
The reference to Saint Augustine in no. 47, when he says that "in a Church that recognizes the face of Christ in the poor and the instruments of charity in goods, Augustinian thought remains a sure light," reveals the Pope's intention to return charity to its theological and spiritual foundation.
The expression "God's preferential option for the poor," the Pope specifies, "never indicates exclusivity or discrimination against other groups, which would be impossible in God" (no. 16). For him, poverty is not a social category, much less a revolutionary one, but rather the human condition of those who, in society, are weak, fragile, sometimes marginalized or persecuted.
“On the wounded faces of the poor, we find imprinted the suffering of the innocent and, therefore, the very suffering of Christ. At the same time, we should perhaps speak more correctly of the many faces of the poor and of poverty, since it is a varied phenomenon; indeed, there are many forms of poverty: that of those who lack the means of material sustenance, the poverty of those who are socially marginalized and lack the means to express their dignity and abilities, moral and spiritual poverty, cultural poverty, that of those who find themselves in a condition of personal or social weakness or fragility, the poverty of those who have no rights, no space, no freedom” (n. 9).
The numerous examples cited by the Pope reveal the breadth of the category of the poor to which he refers, which includes not only the sick, the suffering, the persecuted, but also those in need of words of instruction and truth. “Between the end of the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th, when many Christians were captured in the Mediterranean or enslaved in war, two religious orders arose: the Order of the Most Holy Trinity for the Redemption of Captives (Trinitarians), founded by Saint John of Matha and Saint Felix of Valois, and the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy (Mercedarians), founded by Saint Peter Nolasco with the support of Saint Raymond of Peñafort, a Dominican. These communities of consecrated men and women were born with the specific charism of freeing enslaved Christians, placing their possessions at their disposal and, often, offering their lives in exchange” (no. 60).
“In the 16th century, Saint John of God, founding the Hospitaller Order that bears his name, created model hospitals that welcomed everyone, regardless of social or economic status. His famous expression, “Do good, my brothers!” became a motto for active charity towards the sick. At the same time, St. Camillus de Lellis founded the Order of Ministers of the Sick – the Camillians – making his own the mission of serving the sick with total dedication” (no. 50).
The Pope also recalls the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, the Hospitaller Sisters, the Little Sisters of Divine Providence, and many other female congregations, who “became a maternal and discreet presence in hospitals, nursing homes, and retirement homes” (no. 51).
In the 19th century, St. Marcellin Champagnat founded the Institute of the Marist Brothers of Schools, “sensitive to the spiritual and educational needs of his time, especially the religious ignorance and situations of abandonment experienced by young people in particular.” “In the same spirit, St. John Bosco began the great Salesian work in Italy, based on the three principles of the ‘preventive method’ – reason, religion, and loving-kindness” (no. 70). “In the 19th century, when millions of Europeans emigrated in search of better living conditions, two great saints distinguished themselves in the pastoral care of migrants: St. John Baptist Scalabrini and St. Frances Cabrini” (no. 74).
Pope Leo XIV finally recommends the “works of mercy” (no. 27) and especially a forgotten Christian precept, almsgiving, because, he states, “Love and the deepest convictions must be nourished, and this is done with gestures”; “In any case, almsgiving, even if small, instills piety in a social life in which everyone is concerned with their own personal interests. The Book of Proverbs says: ‘The generous will be blessed, for he gives of his bread to the poor’ (Prov 22:9)” (no. 116).
Leo XIV’s exhortation Dilexi te therefore reaffirms the Church’s teaching on charity towards our neighbor. “Care for the poor,” says the Pope, “is part of the great Tradition of the Church, like a beacon of light that, from the Gospel onwards, has illuminated the hearts and steps of Christians of every age” (n. 103). “That Christian charity,” we might conclude with the words of his great predecessor Leo XIII, “which encompasses the entire Gospel and which, always ready to sacrifice itself for others, is the surest antidote to the pride and selfishness of the century” (Rerum Novarum, n. 45).
