“I often wonder, even though the teaching of Sacred Scripture is so clear about the poor, why many people continue to think that they can safely disregard the poor,” Pope Leo XIV states in his first magisterial document, known by its Latin title, “Dilexi Te” (“I have loved you”), released today by the Vatican. The document confirms his continuity with his Argentine predecessor, Pope Francis, on this fundamentally important subject.

“For Christians, the problem of the poor leads to the very heart of our faith,” Pope Leo says, because “the poor are not a sociological category, but the very ‘flesh’ of Christ.” He adds, “No Christian can regard the poor simply as a societal problem; they are part of our ‘family.’ They are ‘one of us.’”

He describes “love for the poor—whatever the form their poverty may take” as “the evangelical hallmark of a Church faithful to the heart of God. Indeed, one of the priorities of every movement of renewal within the Church has always been a preferential concern for the poor.”

In what is perhaps one of the most striking sections of the text, the first American pope quotes from Francis’ 2013 apostolic exhortation “The Joy of the Gospel,” saying, “We must continue, then, to denounce the ‘dictatorship of an economy that kills,’ and to recognize that ‘while the earnings of a minority are growing exponentially, so too is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few.’”

He attributes this imbalance to “ideologies that defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation. Consequently, they reject the right of states, charged with vigilance for the common good, to exercise any form of control.” As a result of all this, he says, a “new tyranny is being born, invisible and often virtual, which unilaterally and relentlessly imposes its own laws and rules.”

Leo observes that “[t]here is no shortage of theories attempting to justify the present state of affairs or to explain that economic thinking requires us to wait for invisible market forces to resolve everything.” Nevertheless, he insists, “the dignity of every human person must be respected today, not tomorrow, and the extreme poverty of all those to whom this dignity is denied should constantly weigh upon our consciences.”

He recalls how Pope Francis, in his fourth and last encyclical, “Dilexit Nos” (“He loved us”), reminded us “that social sin consolidates a ‘structure of sin’ within society, and is frequently ‘part of a dominant mindset that considers normal or reasonable what is merely selfishness and indifference. This then gives rise to social alienation.’ It then becomes normal to ignore the poor and live as if they do not exist.” 

This missionary pope—who spent half of his priestly life among the poor in Peru—insists that addressing poverty and its structural causes is a pressing need. Quoting Pope Francis and others, he says that addressing these causes “‘cannot be delayed, not only for the pragmatic reason of its urgency for the good order of society, but because society needs to be cured of a sickness which is weakening and frustrating it, and which can only lead to new crises. Welfare projects, which meet certain urgent needs, should be considered merely provisional responses.’ I can only state once more that inequality ‘is the root of social ills.’ Indeed, ‘it frequently becomes clear that, in practice, human rights are not equal for all.’”

Today’s economic model, “with its emphasis on success and self-reliance,” raises several questions, Pope Leo says: 

Does this mean that the less gifted are not human beings? Or that the weak do not have the same dignity as ourselves? Are those born with fewer opportunities of lesser value as human beings? Should they limit themselves merely to surviving? The worth of our societies, and our own future, depends on the answers we give to these questions. Either we regain our moral and spiritual dignity or we fall into a cesspool.

Pope Leo reminds “all the members of the People of God” that they “have a duty to make their voices heard, albeit in different ways, in order to point out and denounce such structural issues, even at the cost of appearing foolish or naïve.”

He says, “Unjust structures need to be recognized and eradicated by the force of good, by changing mindsets but also, with the help of science and technology, by developing effective policies for societal change.” He reminds believers that “the Gospel message has to do not only with an individual’s personal relationship with the Lord, but also with something greater: ‘the Kingdom of God (cf. Lk 4:43); it is about loving God who reigns in our world.’”

Aware that this requires political decisions, Pope Leo expresses the hope “that we will see more and more ‘politicians capable of sincere and effective dialogue aimed at healing the deepest roots—and not simply the appearances—of the evils in our world.’ For ‘it is a matter of hearing the cry of entire peoples, the poorest peoples of the earth.’”

Following Francis

The title of Leo’s first exhortation, “Dilexi Te,” is taken from the Book of Revelation 3:9, where “the Lord speaks these words to a Christian community that, unlike some others, had no influence of resources, and was treated instead with violence and contempt.”

He makes clear that this exhortation is to be seen as a companion to “Dilexit Nos,” in which Pope Francis reflected on “the human and divine love of the heart of Jesus Christ.” Leo recalls that the encyclical “showed how Jesus identified himself ‘with the lowest ranks of society’ and how, with his love poured out to the end, he confirms the dignity of every human being, especially when ‘they are weak, scorned, or suffering.’” 

“In continuity with that encyclical,” the Augustinian pope recalls that Francis, “in the last months of his life,” was preparing “an Apostolic Exhortation on the Church’s care for the poor, to which he gave the title Dilexi Te, as if Christ speaks those words to each of them, saying: ‘You have but little power,’ yet ‘I have loved you’ (Rev 3:9).”

He tells his global audience:

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.”

The exhortation was presented at a press conference at the Vatican on Oct. 9 by a panel of two cardinals—Michael Czerny, S.J., the prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, and Konrad Krajewski, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, and by two religious persons, Sister Clémence of the Little Sisters of Jesus and Frédéric-Marie Le Méhauté, O.F.M. 

Cardinal Czerny described the text as “an icon of the church’s magisterium, 100 percent Francis and 100 percent Leo.” He explained that, unlike an encyclical, which can cover many questions and offer social analysis, an exhortation usually focuses on one issue only, in this case “love of the poor.” Poverty is “a huge social problem,” he said, and it is also “a theological theme: through the poor, God speaks to the church, faith becomes real in mercy and service, that breaks down barriers, and God’s people experience the beatitude of ‘the poor in spirit.’” He noted that in this exhortation, “Pope Leo joins Pope Francis in declaring: There will be no peace as long as the poor and the planet are neglected and abused.”

[Explainer: Papal documents and their (different) levels of authority]

Cardinal Krajewski put the message of the exhortation in simple words: “The poor is Christ himself.”

The exhortation contains a brief introduction and five chapters. Most of what is presented in the first part of this article comes in the fourth chapter. In Chapters 2 and 3, Leo summarizes the teaching in Scripture about God’s love for the poor, as shown by his coming among us as a human in Jesus Christ, who showed that love in its fullness. He then traces how the first Christian community expressed that love for the poor in whom they saw Christ, and how the fathers of the church in both the East and West, as well as the saints down the centuries, did likewise in their preaching and their lives. 

The exhortation is an important teaching document because in it Leo summarizes and reminds believers (with concrete examples) how throughout church history, “love for the Lord is one with love for the poor” and has always been a central tenet of the Christian faith and life. He recalls how this “love for the poor” found concrete expression with the rise of monasticism and of the religious orders. He tells how in the 12th and 13th centuries, the mendicant orders (Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians and Cistercians), starting with St. Francis of Assisi, expressed their love for the poor in new inspiring ways, and how in later centuries other religious orders arose to respond to the needs of the poor at different times by providing care for the sick, freeing prisoners and slaves and providing education for those who lacked it. He names and summarizes the work of these orders and some of these saints, down to modern times with St. Teresa of Calcutta.

In the exhortation, Pope Leo not only traces this history but also goes on to recall the new chapters of concern for the poor that began with Leo XIII’s encyclical “Rerum Novarum,” which gave rise to the social doctrine of the church. That social teaching continued with many other encyclicals, like John XXIII’s “Mater et Magistra,” and, most significantly, with the Second Vatican Council, in which, as Paul VI said, “the parable of the Samaritan served as the model for the council’s spirituality.” 

He underlined how Vatican II (1962-65) “represented a milestone in the church’s understanding of the poor in God’s saving plan” and recalled that on the eve of that council, Pope John XXIII declared that “the Church presents herself as she is and as she wishes to be: the Church of all and in particular the Church of the poor” and with the help of bishops and theologians “gave the council a new direction.” 

Pope Leo highlights how that council was a turning point in the renewal of the church in its relation to the poor, and says it inspired the work of the Latin American bishops in the historic gatherings at Medellín, Puebla, Santo Domingo and lastly in Aparecida, which prioritized the preferential option for the poor, underlined the need to counteract structures of sin in the world and emphasized that the poor, too, are subjects, a force for change in history. He recalls how St. Óscar Romero gave expression to this love for the poor in El Salvador.

He underlines, however, that “this ‘preference’ never indicates exclusivity or discrimination towards other groups, which would be impossible for God.” Rather, “It is meant to emphasize God’s actions, which are moved by compassion toward the poverty and weakness of all humanity. Wanting to inaugurate a kingdom of justice, fraternity and solidarity, God has a special place in his heart for those who are discriminated against and oppressed, and he asks us, his Church, to make a decisive and radical choice in favor of the weakest.”

Surprisingly, Leo at one point turns to the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith’s 1984 “Instruction on Certain Aspects of the ‘Theology of Liberation,” which, he recalls, “was not initially well received by everyone.” He finds there “a reflection that remains timely today,” which he quotes at length. It says:

The defenders of orthodoxy are sometimes accused of passivity, indulgence, or culpable complicity regarding the intolerable situations of injustice and the political regimes which prolong them. Spiritual conversion, the intensity of the love of God and neighbor, zeal for justice and peace, the Gospel meaning of the poor and of poverty, are required of everyone, and especially of pastors and those in positions of responsibility. The concern for the purity of the faith demands giving the answer of effective witness in the service of one’s neighbor, the poor and the oppressed in particular, in an integral theological fashion.

In the challenging and inspiring exhortation, Leo calls on believers to express their love for the poor in large and small ways, in accordance with each one’s possibilities. He insists that “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.”

Gerard O’Connell is America’s senior Vatican correspondent and author of The Election of Pope Francis: An Inside Story of the Conclave That Changed History. He has been covering the Vatican since 1985.