americamagazine.org
2025-10-10
"I often wonder, even though the teaching of Sacred Scripture is so clear about the poor, why many people continue to think that they can safely disregard the poor," Pope Leo XIV states in his first magisterial document, known by its Latin title, "Dilexi Te" ("I have loved you"), released today by the Vatican. The document confirms his continuity with his Argentine predecessor, Pope Francis, on this fundamentally important subject.
"For Christians, the problem of the poor leads to the very heart of our faith," Pope Leo says, because "the poor are not a sociological category, but the very 'flesh' of Christ." He adds, "No Christian can regard the poor simply as a societal problem; they are part of our 'family.' They are 'one of us.'"
He describes "love for the poor--whatever the form their poverty may take" as "the evangelical hallmark of a Church faithful to the heart of God. Indeed, one of the priorities of every movement of renewal within the Church has always been a preferential concern for the poor."