By Gerard O’Connell, America Magazine

Vatican City, Oct 4, 2025: Pope Leo XIV on October 4 signed his first major document, an apostolic exhortation called “Dilexi te” (“I have loved you”), which will focus on love for the poor.

The Vatican said it will be published on October 9, and emphasized that Pope Leo signed it on the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, whose embrace of poverty is well known.

The title of the exhortation comes from Revelation 3:9, the last book of the Bible. It can be seen as a companion document to “Dilexit nos” (“He loved us”), the fourth and final encyclical issued by Pope Francis on “the human and divine love of the heart of Jesus Christ,” published on October 24, 2024.

While that encyclical called believers to focus on the love of Jesus, this new document, begun under Francis and completed by Leo, emphasizes the call to believers to love the poor as Jesus did.

Pope Leo has devoted his first major document to the poor. Since his ordination in 1982 he has spent almost half of his priestly life, some 20 years, working as a missionary among the poor in Peru. An early draft of the exhortation had been prepared during the last part of Francis’ pontificate, and Pope Leo completed it.

Pope Francis had also completed a document begun by his predecessor, Benedict XVI: “Lumen Fidei” was published on June 29, 2013.

Pope Leo’s exhortation is expected to show his continuity with Pope Francis in relation to the poor and the reality of poverty in today’s world. The first Jesuit Pope had time and again emphasized that “the poor are at the heart of the Gospel,” and he showed not just in words but in multiple concrete ways his love for the poor, including ensuring that people in need were present at his funeral.

Pope Leo, his Augustinian successor, has built on that original draft to produce his first apostolic exhortation. The document is about 40 pages (some 20,000 words) and is rooted in what scripture and Church teaching say about the poor, and highlights the need for justice in today’s world.

Already, during his first five months as the Pope, Leo has spoken frequently about the poor, poverty in the world, and the impact of war and climate change in many countries across the globe.

In his interview with Elise Ann Allen, senior correspondent for Crux, for her biography of him, for example, Leo significantly emphasized that “the continuously wider gap between the income levels of the working class and the money that the wealthiest receive” is contributing to the polarization in today’s world.

He cited the fact that “C.E.O.s that 60 years ago might have been making four to six times more than what the workers are receiving, the last figure I saw, it’s 600 times more than what average workers are receiving. Yesterday the news [said] that Elon Musk is going to be the first trillionaire in the world. What does that mean and what’s that about? If that is the only thing that has value anymore, then we’re in big trouble.”

Pope Leo believes the Church offers xxx read