Pope Leo’s first major document urges love for the poor

Pope Leo signed the apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te (I Have Loved You) on October 4, the feast of St Francis of Assisi, and the Vatican released the text on October 9.

The document was begun by Pope Francis, Pope Leo said, but he added to it and wanted to issue it near the beginning of his papacy “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”. 

“I am convinced that the preferential choice for the poor is a source of extraordinary renewal both for the Church and for society,” Pope Leo wrote, “if we can only set ourselves free of our self-centeredness and open our ears to their cry.”

In the document, Pope Leo decried the increasing gap between the world’s wealthiest and poorest citizens. He also affirmed Church teaching since at least the 1960s that there are “structures of sin” that keep the poor in poverty and lead those who have sufficient resources to ignore the poor or think they are better than them.

“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.”

That choice, Pope Leo said, must include pastoral and spiritual care as well as education, health care, jobs training and charity – all of which the Church has provided for centuries.

While the Pope wrote that “the most important way to help the disadvantaged is to assist them in finding a good job”, he insisted that when that is not possible, giving alms to a person asking for money is still a compassionate thing to do.

“It is always better at least to do something rather than nothing,” Pope Leo wrote.

But Christians cannot stand idly by while the global economic system penalises the poor and makes some people exceedingly wealthy. “We must continue, then, to denounce the ‘dictatorship of an economy that kills’,” Pope Leo said, quoting a phrase Pope Francis used.

Religion cannot be limited to the private sphere, the Holy Father added, “as if believers had no business making their voice heard with regard to problems affecting civil society and issues of concern to its members”.

FULL STORY

Love for the poor is hallmark of faith, pope says in first exhortation (By Cindy Wooden/CNS)

Pope Leo blasts elitism, indifference toward poor in first major document (National Catholic Reporter)

RELATED STORIES

Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi te of the Holy Father Leo XIV on Love for the Poor (4 October 2025) (Dilexi Te Full Text/Vatican)

‘Dilexi te’: A brief guide for busy readers (The Pillar)