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Dilexi Te: Pope Leo XIV’s Call to Love the Poor — Its Origin and Vision

On October 4, 2025, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Leo XIV released Dilexi Te (“I Have Loved You”), a pastoral exhortation focusing on the inseparable link between love for God and love for the poor. Its subtitle, On Love for the Poor, immediately sets the tone: authentic faith is expressed through mercy, solidarity, and justice.

The document’s origin is significant: Pope Francis began the draft, and Pope Leo XIV completed it, symbolizing continuity across pontificates. Dilexi Te invites the Church — clergy, religious, and laity alike — to deepen its commitment to the marginalized.

Building on Pope Francis’s vision of a “Church of the Poor,” Pope Leo XIV emphasizes that the poor are not just recipients of aid but bearers of God’s presence. The opening phrase, “I have loved you” from Revelation 3:9, reminds the faithful that God’s love is intimately connected to concern for the vulnerable. The exhortation calls all Christians to encounter Christ in the faces of the poor.

Seeing Poverty Clearly

Pope Leo begins by confronting the paradox of modern life: despite unprecedented wealth, poverty persists, often invisibly. He frames poverty as largely a structural issue rather than an individual failing.

Christians are called to see poverty personally and respond concretely. Drawing on St. Francis of Assisi, Leo emphasizes simple, yet profound, gestures: sharing meals, listening attentively, and opening one’s heart to those in need. These acts are not optional; they are expressions of living faith.

God Chooses the Poor

Theological reflection forms the heart of Dilexi Te. Pope Leo asserts that God consistently “bends low,” showing preference for the marginalized. The Incarnation exemplifies this: Jesus, born in humility and crucified among criminals, embodies divine solidarity with the poor.

He warns that faith divorced from action is incomplete. Systems of wealth and power that exclude the vulnerable oppose God’s plan. Serving the poor is inseparable from living a faithful Christian life.

A History of Solidarity

Tracing Church history, the Holy Father highlights how early Christians shared resources and saints ministered to lepers, the sick, and the marginalized. Monastic and mendicant traditions — Benedictines, Franciscans, Dominicans — model close engagement with the poor.

The document situates itself within modern Catholic social teaching, citing Rerum Novarum, Populorum Progressio, Mater et Magistra, Caritas in Veritate, and Vatican II’s emphasis on the preferential option for the poor. Latin American movements such as Medellín and Aparecida are highlighted as faithful responses to poverty in contemporary contexts.

The Pope emphasizes that poverty is not only material deprivation. He identifies five dimensions:

1. Material poverty — lack of food, shelter, basic needs.
2. Social poverty — exclusion, invisibility, isolation.
3. Cultural and spiritual poverty — lack of education, identity, and dignity.
4. Poverty of rights — denial of legal protections and participation.
5. Migrant and displaced poverty — suffering caused by displacement or forced migration.

He critiques the “economy that kills,” economic systems prioritizing profit over human life, while affirming hope wherever compassion, justice, and solidarity thrive.

Serving the poor, he insists, is not simply philanthropy; it is discipleship and encounter with God.

The Way Forward

The Roman Pontiff concludes with a pastoral and prophetic challenge: love for the poor is central to the Church’s identity. A Church that neglects the vulnerable neglects the Gospel itself.

He outlines three areas of response:

• Structural conversion — confronting systemic injustice.
• Pastoral accompaniment — integrating health care, education, and social support with spiritual care.
• Personal conversion — living simply, generously, and attentively.

The Pope envisions a “Church of the Beatitudes” — poor in spirit, meek, merciful, hungry for justice, and close to the suffering.

Thus Dilexi Te emphasizes:

• Continuity and Renewal: Builds on Francis while articulating Pope Leo’s pastoral vision.
• Faith and Love as One Reality: True faith overflows into love for the poor.
• Structural and Personal Conversion: Systems and hearts must transform.
• Listening to the Poor: The marginalized are active participants, not passive recipients.
• The Poor as the Face of Christ: Serving the poor is encountering Christ Himself.

His unique contribution is the mystical perspective: the poor as living icons of Christ.

However, while the message was addressed primarily to Christians, it is universal in application: society is judged not by wealth but by care for the vulnerable. Pope Leo challenges readers to evaluate not only charitable acts but daily decisions — how we spend, vote, work, and relate to others.

Dilexi Te is both mirror and guide, reflecting societal shortcomings while pointing toward faithful service. It calls for a “revolution of tenderness,” beginning in individual hearts and extending to communities and institutions.

In a world often numbed by indifference, Pope Leo XIV reminds everyone that mercy is never optional, and love for the poor remains the truest measure of living faith.