November 19, 2025
Pope Leo’s Exhortation – 1
Dear Friends,
On October 4, Pope Leo XIV issued his first major statement or teaching. This is an Apostolic Exhortation and is entitled Dilexi Te (the Latin for I Have Loved You). An Apostolic Exhortation is a form of papal document which encourages a particular virtue or important way of living Jesus’ calling at a certain time.
“‘I have loved you’ (Rev 3:9). The Lord speaks these words to a Christian community that, unlike some others, had no influence or resources, and was treated instead with violence and contempt.” These are the opening words of Pope Leo’s exhortation. He is seeing God speaking to those who are poor or oppressed. And interestingly, the Latin word “Te” in the title is the singular form for our English word “you.” The idea is that God has loved each of us personally, as special and unique persons.
In his Introduction, the Holy Father also states that his predecessor Pope Francis had begun working on this Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi Te. Leo continues: “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.” These sentences give us the context for understanding all that follows in the Exhortation.
After the brief Introduction, Dilexi Te is divided into 5 chapters and is 35 pages in length. This series of columns will try to highlight only some of the significant statements that will give us a sense of what the Pope is teaching.
In Chapter One, A Few Essential Words, Leo gets right to the heart of his message and of our calling from Christ:
“Love for the Lord, then, is one with love for the poor. The same Jesus who tells us, ‘The poor you will always have with you’ (Mt 26:11), also promises the disciples: ‘I am with you always’ (Mt 28:20). We likewise think of his saying: ‘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). 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.”
To be continued next week!
Fr. Michael Schleupner
November 26, 2025
Pope Leo’s Exhortation – 2
Dear Friends,
Today’s Inbox continues reflections on some of the highlights in Pope Leo’s Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi Te.
In Chapter One, A Few Essential Words, the Holy Father uses the term “preferential option for the poor.” This expression was first officially used at a conference of all the Latin American bishops in 1979 in Pueblo, Mexico. Since then, it has been used by each Pope and is now regularly used in Church documents and teaching. It conveys that the care of the poor is both an essential and a priority in our ministry, indeed, in our faith.
Pope Leo says: “I am convinced that the preferential choice for the poor is a source of extraordinary renewal both for the Church and for society, if we can only set ourselves free of our self-centeredness and open our ears to their cry.” He sees us as entering into the very heart of God when we care for the poor in our midst.
The Holy Father has the insight that there are many forms of poverty.
“In fact, there are many forms of poverty: the poverty of those who lack material means of subsistence, the poverty of those who are socially marginalized and lack the means to give voice to their dignity and abilities, moral and spiritual poverty, cultural poverty, the poverty of those who find themselves in a condition of personal or social weakness or fragility, the poverty of those who have no rights, no space, no freedom.”
Pope Leo is clear with how he understands socio-economic conditions today and then calls us to examine our perspectives.
“Nor can it be said that most of the poor are such because they do not ‘deserve’ otherwise, as maintained by that specious view of meritocracy that sees only the successful as ‘deserving.’”
“Christians too, on a number of occasions, have succumbed to attitudes shaped by secular ideologies or political and economic approaches that lead to gross generalizations and mistaken conclusions. The fact that some dismiss or ridicule charitable works, as if they were an obsession on the part of a few and not the burning heart of the Church’s mission, convinces me of the need to go back and re-read the Gospel, lest we risk replacing it with the wisdom of this world.”
To read the first of this series in the Inbox Inspirations of November 19, use the link below. To be continued next week!
Fr. Michael Schleupner
December 3, 2025
Pope Leo’s Exhortation – 3
Dear Friends,
This is the third in a series of Inbox Inspirations on Pope Leo’s Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi Te [I Have Loved You]. Here are some highlights of Chapter Two, God Chooses the Poor.
Pope Leo grounds the calling to care for the poor in the very identity of Jesus.
“Precisely in order to share the limitations and fragility of our human nature, he himself became poor and was born in the flesh like us. We came to know him in the smallness of a child laid in a manger and in the extreme humiliation of the cross, where he shared our radical poverty, which is death. It is easy to understand, then, why we can also speak theologically of a preferential option on the part of God for the poor…”
The Holy Father carefully clarifies this “option” for the poor.
“This ‘preference’ never indicates exclusivity or discrimination towards other groups…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.”
Pope Leo even sees this as a matter of spiritual authenticity.
“Jesus’ teaching on the primacy of love for God is clearly complemented by his insistence that one cannot love God without extending one’s love to the poor. Love for our neighbor is tangible proof of the authenticity of our love for God, as the Apostle John attests: ‘If we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us’ (1 Jn 4:12).”
The Holy Father goes on to speak of the transformation that our worship (participation in Mass and receiving the Eucharist) is to bring about.
“For this reason, works of mercy are recommended as a sign of the authenticity of worship, which, while giving praise to God, has the task of opening us to the transformation that the Spirit can bring about in us, so that we may all become an image of Christ and his mercy towards the weakest.”
You may access the first two columns of this series (November 19 and 26) by using the link below. To be continued next week!
Fr. Michael Schleupner
December 10, 2025
Pope Leo’s Exhortation – 4
Dear Friends,
This is the fourth in a series of Inbox Inspirations on Pope Leo’s Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi Te [I Have Loved You]. Here are some highlights of Chapter Three, A Church for the Poor.
In this section, the Holy Father gives an overview of the Church’s history in making care for the poor a priority. He introduces this:
“Indeed, since the Church is called to identify with those who are least, at her core ‘There can be no room for doubt or for explanations which weaken so clear a message… We have to state, without mincing words, that there is an inseparable bond between our faith and the poor’ [quoted from Pope Francis]. In this regard, we have numerous witnesses from disciples of Christ spanning almost two millennia.”
Pope Leo recalls the appointment of deacons in the Acts of Apostles for the clear purpose of caring for those in need. He then notes the emphasis of the early Fathers of the Church, such as Saint Justin (usually referred to as Justin Martyr, 100-165CE).
“For his part, Saint Justin, who addressed his First Apology to Emperor Adrian, the Senate and people of Rome, explained that Christians bring all that they can to those in need because they see them as brothers and sisters in Christ. Writing about the assembly gathered in prayer on the first day of the week, he underscored that at the heart of the Christian liturgy, it is not possible to separate the worship of God from concern for the poor… the nascent Church did not separate belief from social action.”
Pope Leo goes on to highlight this care for the poor over the centuries, including Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Augustine. He notes the influence of Saint Benedict (480-547) who saw no contradiction between living a monastic or contemplative life and reaching out to care for those in need. His Rule had enormous influence not just for Benedictine but for all monastic life especially in Europe.
“Over time, Benedictine monasteries became places for overcoming the culture of exclusion. Monks and nuns cultivated the land, produced food, prepared medicines and offered them, with simplicity, to those most in need. Their silent work was the leaven of a new civilization, where the poor were not a problem to be solved, but brothers and sisters to be welcomed.”
You may access the first three columns of this series (November 19 and 26 and December 3) by using the link below. To be continued next week!
Fr. Michael Schleupner
December 17, 2025
Pope Leo’s Exhortation – 5
Dear Friends,
This is the fifth in a series of Inbox Inspirations on Pope Leo’s Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi Te [I Have Loved You]. Today continues some highlights from Chapter Three, A Church for the Poor, by far the longest of the five chapters of this Exhortation.
Pope Leo sees the Church’s history in caring for the sick as central to our response to the gospel. While the sick are not necessarily poor, we are all vulnerable at those times and need special care. Over the centuries, various religious orders have been founded with the mission of caring for the sick, such as the Order of Ministers of the Sick or Camillians by Saint Camillus de Lellis and the Daughters of Charity by Saint Louise de Maurillac and Saint Vincent de Paul. The Holy Father brings this care for the sick right down to the present time:
“Today, this legacy continues in Catholic hospitals, healthcare facilities in remote areas, clinics operating in jungles, shelters for drug addicts and in field hospitals in war zones. The Christian presence among the sick reveals that salvation is not an abstract idea, but concrete action. In the act of healing a wound, the Church proclaims that the Kingdom of God begins among the most vulnerable.”
Pope Leo lifts up especially the religious orders who by their very constitutions and lifestyle identify with the poor.
“In the thirteenth century, faced with the growth of cities, the concentration of wealth and the emergence of new forms of poverty, the Holy Spirit gave rise to a new type of consecration in the Church: the mendicant orders. Unlike the stable monastic model, mendicants adopted an itinerant life, without personal or communal property, entrusting themselves entirely to providence. They did not merely serve the poor: they made themselves poor with them. They saw the city as a new desert and the marginalized as new spiritual teachers. These orders, such as the Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians and Carmelites, represented an evangelical revolution, in which a simple and poor lifestyle became a prophetic sign for mission, reviving the experience of the first Christian community (cf. Acts 4:32).”
Here the Holy Father especially notes the example and leadership of Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Clare of Assisi, and Saint Dominic de Guzman.
To be continued next week! You may access the first four columns of this series by using the link below.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
January 7, 2026
Pope Leo’s Exhortation – 6
Dear Friends,
Today I am resuming the series of Inbox Inspirations on Pope Leo’s Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi Te [I Have Loved You]. This column continues some highlights from Chapter Three, A Church for the Poor, by far the longest of the five chapters of this Exhortation.
The Holy Father highlights the Church’s mission of liberation to those unjustly held captive. This is also a gospel-based ministry. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the imprisonment and enslavement of people became a practice in parts of Europe. In response to this, two religious orders arose, the more notable to us being the Order of the Most Holy Trinity and the Captives (the Trinitarians).
“This mission of liberation has continued throughout the centuries through concrete actions, especially when the tragedy of slavery and imprisonment has marked entire societies…The liberation of prisoners is an expression of Trinitarian love: a God who frees not only from spiritual slavery but also from concrete oppression.”
Next, Pope Leo sees the origin of Catholic schools as responding to the needs of the poor. In the sixteenth century, Saint Joseph Calasanz founded a school in Rome for the children of ordinary workers whose education was being neglected by the state. In the seventeenth century, Saint John Baptist de la Salle established the Brothers of the Christian Schools in France for the same reason. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, many female religious orders stepped up where civil society was failing to provide adequate education to the poor. Pope Leo asserts:
“Catholic schools, therefore, when they are faithful to their name, are places of inclusion, integral formation and human development. By combining faith and culture, they sow the seeds of the future, honor the image of God and build a better society.”
To be continued next week! You may access the first five columns of this series by using the link below (November 19 and 26, December 3, 10 and 17, 2025).
Fr. Michael Schleupner
January 14, 2026
Pope Leo’s Exhortation – 7
Dear Friends,
This column continues the series of Inbox Inspirations on Pope Leo’s Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi Te [I Have Loved You].
Toward the end of Chapter Three, A Church for the Poor, Pope Leo turns his attention to migrants. He goes back to Scripture and recalls that Abraham, Moses, and even the Holy Family were migrants at some point. The Church has a long history of assisting migrants. The Holy Father recalls the outstanding example of Saint Frances Cabrini. Born in Italy, she came to the United States to care for Italian and other European immigrants in the nineteenth century. She established schools and hospitals for the poor who came to this new world in search of work and even survival. Pope Leo asserts:
“The Church, like a mother, accompanies those who are walking. Where the world sees threats, she sees children; where walls are built, she builds bridges. She knows that her proclamation of the Gospel is credible only when it is translated into gestures of closeness and welcome. And she knows that in every rejected migrant, it is Christ himself who knocks at the door of the community.”
In Chapter Four, A History That Continues, Pope Leo speaks of the development of the Church’s social teaching over the past 150 years. He cites the landmark encyclical Rerum Novarum of Pope Benedict XIII in 1891. He then traces the development of the teaching on social morality through Vatican II and the popes right down to his predecessor, Pope Francis.
The Holy Father recalls his experience as a priest and bishop in South America and the strong position taken by the bishops there. “The bishops stated forcefully that the Church, to be fully faithful to her vocation, must not only share the condition of the poor, but also stand at their side and work actively for their integral development.”
Pope Leo seems passionate in his conviction that inequality and poverty are at the root of our social ills. He states unequivocally: “There 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, 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.”
To be continued next week!
Fr. Michael Schleupner
January 21, 2026
Pope Leo’s Exhortation – 8
Dear Friends,
This column concludes the series of Inbox Inspirations on Pope Leo’s Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi Te [I Have Loved You].
Chapter Five, the last chapter of this Exhortation, is entitled A Constant Challenge. The Holy Father sees our care for the poor and marginalized not as something new but rather as part of our long Christian (Catholic) Tradition. “I have chosen to recall the age-old history of the Church’s care for the poor and with the poor in order to make clear that it has always been a central part of her life. Indeed, caring for the poor is part of the Church’s great Tradition, a beacon as it were of evangelical light….”
The Holy Father sees a tendency in this millennium to abandon the poor and see them as not worthy of our attention and respect. He sees an indifference toward the poor. To this attitude or mindset, he says: “No Christian can regard the poor simply as a societal problem; they are part of our family. They are one of us. Nor can our relationship to the poor be reduced to merely another ecclesial activity or function.”
Pope Leo calls upon governments to see the value of work and to develop an economic system that will provide jobs for everyone. Even with that, individual persons will still need to make charitable giving (“almsgiving”) part of their life and their faith.
“I would like to close by saying something about almsgiving, which nowadays is not looked upon favorably even among believers… Let me state once again that the most important way to help the disadvantaged is to assist them in finding a good job, so that they can lead a more dignified life by developing their abilities and contributing their fair share….On the other hand, where this is not possible, we cannot risk abandoning others to the fate of lacking the necessities for a dignified life. Consequently, almsgiving remains, for the time being, a necessary means of contact, encounter and empathy with those less fortunate.”
Dilexi Te is the first major statement and teaching issued by Pope Leo. I have spent time sharing some of its highlights with the hope of giving us some sense of who this new Pope is and what he is thinking. Let’s keep him, our Church, and our world in prayer.
Fr. Michael Schleupner
