Dilexi Te: "On Love for the Poor"

In his first apostolic exhortation, Pope Leo XIV turns the world’s gaze toward the poor, the suffering, and the forgotten—those in whom the heart of Christ beats most visibly. Flowing naturally from Pope Francis’s Dilexit Nos, an earlier reflection on the human and divine love of Jesus, Dilexi Te challenges us to renounce the false securities of wealth and comfort, to stand in solidarity with the weak, and to allow our hearts to be purified through love in action.

With pastoral warmth and piercing moral insight, our Holy Father calls the Church to a renewal of compassion in an age tempted by self-centeredness and indifference. He invites every Christian to rediscover the beauty and necessity of serving the poor, not as an optional expression of faith, but as the burning heart of the Church’s mission.

From the witness of St. Francis of Assisi and the early Church to the challenges of modern social and structural poverty, Pope Leo XIV urges believers to hear anew the cry of the poor, to act with courage, and to see in the face of every suffering person the face of Christ himself. At its core, Dilexi Te is a call to conversion—a summons to look upon the wounds of the world not with fear or avoidance, but with the merciful gaze of Christ. For in loving the poor, we discover anew the depths of his love for us all.

Ascension’s edition of Dilexi Te features:

A foreword written by Archbishop Nelson Pérez of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia

A newly designed cover with a beautiful photo of Pope Leo XIV

Colored tabs with paragraph numbers at the top of each page for easy navigation

Carefully designed pages to make each page readable, organized, and inviting

A document summary explaining the intended audience, the document’s origin, and the purpose it seeks to serve within the mission of the Church

The official text of this work written by Pope Leo XIV

This edition is part of The Papal Collection from Ascension, which features documents from the Roman Pontiffs.