Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican.
Andrew Medichini/AP
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Andrew Medichini/AP
VATICAN CITY – In the first official document of his papacy, Pope Leo
“The Church, like a mother, accompanies those who walk,” writes Léon in the document published Thursday by the Vatican.
“Where the world sees threats, she sees children; where walls stand, she builds bridges. She knows that her proclamation of the Gospel is only credible when it translates into gestures of proximity and welcome. And she knows that in each rejected migrant, it is Christ himself who knocks at the door of the community.”
The exhortation “Dilexi te” (I have loved you), divided into five chapters, is addressed to “all Christians”. It was signed on October 4, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, and follows in the footsteps of his predecessors, who, starting with St. John XXIII, issued a forceful document urging nations and believers to care for the poorest in society.
“No Christian can view the poor simply as a societal problem; they are part of our ‘family,'” Leo writes. “They are ‘one of us’.”
The exhortation centered around Pope Francis’ latest encyclical, “Dilexit Nos,” which highlighted the connection between the love of God and the love of the poor.
It picks up where Francis left off, when the Latin American pontiff called for “preferential treatment for the poor” and the need for a “poor Church for the poor.” Francis’ first encyclical, Lumen Fidei (The Light of Faith), was also the culmination of a document originally written by his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI.
While the document emphasizes the importance of caring for the poorest in society, including the existential forms of poverty of those who have “no rights, no space, no freedom,” Leo devotes three paragraphs to the plight of immigrants and refugees.
Over the past month, Leo has made increasing calls to welcome the outsider, particularly in his native United States, where the Trump administration is pursuing an aggressive deportation policy.
The pope praised the Church’s long tradition of welcoming migrants, citing the efforts of the Catholic charity group Caritas Internationalis. On Thursday, Leo also sent a message to the Catholic Charities USA Network, which was hit by the freeze on federal funds for nonprofits, praising their work with migrants and encouraging them to continue their efforts as “agents of hope.”
The pope challenges modern societies that have done too little to eradicate inequality and calls on people of good will to take up the role of social justice.
“I can only affirm once again that inequality is ‘the root of all social ills,'” he wrote.
Leo questioned a world in which elite wealth grows “exponentially” while “millions die of starvation or survive in conditions unfit for human beings.” He also criticized “ideologies that defend absolute market autonomy and financial speculation”, with false promises “that a market economy would automatically solve the problem of poverty”.
Leo described a “new tyranny”, which eschews any form of control and where the economy is structured “in such a way that sacrifices are demanded of the masses in order to serve the needs of the powerful”. The poor, he writes, are only entitled to “drops that flow.”
The pope openly challenged “prosperity theology” and called on Christians to give charity. “It will not solve the problem of global poverty, but it must still be implemented with intelligence, diligence and social responsibility,” he wrote.
Popular movements that challenge the “empire of money” invite people to engage in the fight against poverty alongside the poor, rather than on their behalf, and to “write history,” the pope said. It is our duty, Leo said, to “make their voices heard, albeit in different ways, to point out and denounce these structural problems, even at the cost of appearing stupid or naive.”
A church that does not work to help the poor and marginalized “will risk collapsing, even if it talks a lot about social issues or criticizes governments.” It will easily drift into spiritual worldliness camouflaged by religious practices, unproductive meetings and empty speeches,” he said.
He also criticized the image of a church adorned with silks while the poor shiver outside. “God does not need vessels of gold, but souls of gold,” he said.
Faced with the “structural causes of poverty,” Catholics find themselves at a moral crossroads: “Either we regain our moral and spiritual dignity, or we fall into a cesspool,” Leo said.
As our world undergoes an “epochal change” in the context of new technologies and discoveries, the pope urged engaging with the poor who “possess a special light to understand it” and using science and technology as a force for good.
Women are cited as examples of those who are often “doubly poor” and, in many places around the world, the first to lose their dignity and rights. The pope cited the example of saints, such as Francis of Assisi and Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who traced the path of mercy and accompaniment of the poor.
He also showcased the large number of religious orders, monks, nuns and missionaries around the world who, for centuries and today, have been fighting against “modern forms of slavery,” including human trafficking, forced labor and sexual exploitation.
The Church has a special role to play in the field of education, the pope said.
This story will be updated. It was produced through a collaboration between NPR and Religion News Service.
