In Dilexi Te: On Love for the Poor, Pope Leo XIV enters into the heart of the Gospel to address a perennial call of the Christian mission: to recognise, love and serve the poor. Drawing on scripture, tradition and the lived experience of the Church, this Apostolic Exhortation leads the faithful into a deeper encounter with Christ – who became poor for us – and invites a radical transformation of the Church into “a Church for the poor”.

Pope Leo begins with the words of the Lord: “I have loved you” (Rev 3:9); an echo of divine friendship offered even to the little ones of society. In these words, he proposes, we find the source and model of Christian charity: not a mere human kindness, but the incarnate love of God, calling us to join in his work of liberation and hope.

   •  Chapter I – A Few Essential Words: Here, the Pope emphasises that love for the Lord and love for the poor are inseparable. If we claim to love God but neglect the poor, we betray the very essence of Christian worship.

  •  Chapter II – God Chooses the Poor: Reflecting on Scripture and the Church’s tradition, the document articulates how God has a “special place” in his heart for the poor, and how Christ himself embraced poverty in order to bring us salvation.

  •  Chapter III – A Church for the Poor: The Pope invites the Church to live concretely as a community among the poor: humble, close, and engaged rather than distant or self-centred. He highlights many saints, traditions and practices that bear witness to this vocation.

What makes Dilexi Te especially compelling is its insistence on the integral development of every person: material, social, cultural, spiritual. The document does not treat poverty in only one dimension, but recognises its many faces: exclusion, voicelessness, fragility, lack of rights. It calls for not only charitable relief but a change of mentality and structures, a renewed vision for society and the Church.

As such, this text is an invitation to priests, religious, laypeople alike to a renewed holiness rooted in solidarity. To answer Christ’s call not only in our hearts, but in our hands; to touch the suffering flesh of Christ in the poor; to make justice and mercy the hallmark of our worship and service.