Pope Leo XIV just issued his first significant document on the poor, Dilexi Te (I have loved you), which calls on us to care for the poor. Although Pope Francis began work on this before his death, Pope Leo took up his pen to complete it, saying, “I am happy to make this document my own – adding some reflections – and to issue it at the beginning of my own pontificate, 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.”
Pope Leo quotes extensively from both Old and New Testaments passages, which show God’s concern for the poor, including the words of Jesus, “Just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40). And he then writes, “This is not a matter of mere human kindness but a revelation: contact with those who are lowly and powerless is a fundamental way of encountering the Lord of history. In the poor, he continues to speak to us.”
Our Holy Father reminds us, if we love God but don’t serve the poor, if we don’t make a connection between our love of God and the love of our neighbor, it is an empty love. The Letter of James (2:14-17) makes this clear: “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,’ and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So, faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”
Pope Leo extensively catalogues the writing and works of the saints who placed the poor at the center of their lives. He quotes from St. Augustine who wrote that the poor “are not just people to be helped, but the sacramental presence of the Lord,” and that “caring for the poor is concrete proof of the sincerity of faith.”
I join Pope Leo in urging all Christians to recognize God’s oneness with the poor, and to prioritize serving them according to the demands of our Catholic faith. Let us pray for guidance on how we can best meet the needs of the poor, the neglected and the marginalized in our communities, in our country and throughout the world. And then let us take action, doing the good works that our Father in heaven requires of us.
I recommend that you take time to read Dilexi te, which can be found here. It is very readable, insightful, and challenging in the best of ways.
May God bless you and those you love.