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León XIV Issues 'Dilexi te,' Centering Church Mission on Love for the Poor

Framed as an inheritance from Pope Francis, it sets the tone for León XIV’s pontificate with a forceful social critique.

Overview

  • The Vatican released the exhortation on October 9, with León XIV’s signature dated October 4, and the text spans 121 numbered sections.
  • The document denounces a “dictatorship of an economy that kills,” criticizes wealthy elites living in insulated “bubbles,” and urges purification of unjust economic structures.
  • León XIV calls Catholics to welcome migrants and refugees as brothers and sisters, lamenting that Mediterranean tragedies like the image of Alan Kurdi have been relegated to marginal news.
  • The exhortation rejects meritocratic claims that blame the poor for their condition and highlights the “double poverty” of women who face exclusion, abuse, and violence.
  • Warning that a church that fails at inclusion risks “dissolution,” the Pope urges concrete pastoral action and a public voice that awakens and denounces structural injustice.