The Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi te "I have loved you" (Rev 3:9), focused on love for the poor, was signed by Pope Leo XIV on October 4, 2025, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, and published on October 9.
“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. I too consider it essential to insist on this path to holiness, for “in this call to recognize him in the poor and the suffering, we see revealed the very heart of Christ, his deepest feelings and choices, which every saint seeks to imitate”, writes Pope Leo XIV (DT 3).
Pope Leo XIV’s Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi Te (“I Have Loved You”) is a profound reflection on divine love as the foundation of Christian life and the renewal of the Church’s mission in the modern world. Drawing inspiration from Christ’s words in John 15:9, the document presents love not as sentiment but as the very substance of discipleship and ecclesial identity.
At its heart, Dilexi Te proclaims that God’s love precedes every human response and that the Church exists to bear witness to this unconditional love through word, worship, and works of mercy. Pope Leo situates this divine love within the Trinitarian mystery, emphasizing that believers are called to share in the life of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. From this communion flows the Church’s mission of evangelization, reconciliation, and service to humanity.
The Pope calls the faithful to rediscover the primacy of love in every aspect of Christian living, particularly in charity, justice, and fraternity. Echoing the spirit of Fratelli Tutti and Evangelii Gaudium, he warns against indifference, polarization, and self-centered spirituality that weaken the Gospel’s witness. Instead, Christians are urged to embody mercy, humility, and solidarity, building bridges in a world fractured by inequality, ecological destruction, and cultural conflict.
Leo XIV highlights three dimensions of this call. First, personal conversion, through prayer and contemplation of Christ’s heart, which transforms the believer into a living sign of divine tenderness. Second, ecclesial renewal, where communities reflect synodality, inclusiveness, and service rather than clericalism or division. Third, social transformation, where faith inspires concrete commitment to peace, care for creation, defense of human dignity, and accompaniment of the poor, migrants, and marginalized.
The exhortation traces continuity with the social magisterium from Rerum Novarum to Caritas in Veritate, reaffirming that love and truth must shape economic and political systems. Pope Leo insists that authentic Christian witness cannot be detached from structural justice and ecological responsibility. He presents the Church as a “field hospital of mercy” and urges a “revolution of love” that heals wounds and restores hope.
Concluding, Dilexi Te invites every believer to contemplate the Heart of Jesus as the source and model of love that embraces all without distinction. The Pope entrusts the Church to Mary, Mother of Love, praying that through her intercession Christians may live out the words of Christ, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love”, thus renewing the face of the earth through the power of divine charity.
