Review of Dilexi Te
Dilexi te Summary: A Catholic Reflection on Pope Leo XIV’s First Apostolic Exhortation
I’ll be honest, I haven’t always been the best when it comes to staying abreast of contemporary papal documents. They can be long, wordy, and meandering. (There’s a reason why we have a verb pontificate, meaning to go on and on about something in an overly wordy manner!) I struggled with Pope Francis’s extremely dense, lengthy documents. Reading them online also makes things more challenging. I was much better at keeping up with papal documents back when the English print editions by Pauline Books were readily available in every Catholic bookstore and parish library. I remember back in the day, my pastor distributing physical copies of Benedict XVI’s Spe Salvi in the back of the parish after Mass. Ah, those were the times!
When Leo XIV’s first Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi te (“I Have Loved You”) on the subject of the care of the poor was announced recently, I figured it was as good a time as any to try to break this habit. And like many Catholics, I was extremely curious to see what our new Holy Father would have to say to us. Leo’s first months on the Chair of Peter have been characterized by caution and exceptional reserve. I was therefore looking forward to a patient reading of Dilexi te in hopes of getting a better idea of where Pope Leo’s mind is and how he will communicate to the Church as the Successor of Peter.
A Pleasant Surprise
I was pleasantly surprised by Dilexi te. In many respects, it was a breath of fresh air. The exhortation is an extremely tidy, well-written document. At first, I was a little daunted by the 121 paragraphs, but each section is brief, streamlined, almost punchy, usually no more than a few sentences. Leo knows exactly what point he wants to make, states it, and moves on to the next point without needless prolongation. If I’m being entirely honest, this is probably the first time since Benedict XVI’s 2007 Spe Salvi that I truly enjoyed reading a papal document. It was actually a delight to read, and I remember being surprised when I was already up to paragraph sixty because it didn’t feel like I’d already read so far.
A Message Edifying and Timeless
And that’s just speaking of the literary structure of the document. In terms of its content, Leo’s exhortation was edifying and timeless. Modern Vatican documents about social issues have been a mixed bag. Sometimes they can get bogged down in socio-political commentary, reading more like an NGO’s mission statement than a teaching document of the Catholic Church. I was so relieved that Dilexi te did was not such a document. From the beginning to the end, Leo grounds his words in the person of Christ. In the poor, we see the face of Christ. Our compassion for them is a true manner of approaching Christ, and charity on their behalf conforms us to Christ. This is a profoundly Christocentric document that ties care of the poor intimately to the love of Christ. “Inasmuch as you did it to the least of my brethren, that same you have done unto me” (Matt. 25:40).
Leo also took great pains to emphasize his message with references to the lives of the saints, and I was thrilled at this. Dilexi te mentions so many saints, I lost track. Every section is jam-packed with references to the lives and deeds of saints from every time and place, from the patristic days right up to our own time. For me, this is the best part of Dilexi te.
I am a history guy, constantly enmeshed in stories of the saints’ lives. I have frequently lamented how little the saints show up in contemporary preaching and Catholic discourse. It was not always this way. If you’ve ever read a homily by St. Alphonsus Ligouri, for example, they are absolutely stuffed with references to the saints’ lives. To see so many references to the saints in Leo’s first exhortation was absolutely heart-warming. But beyond my personal taste, it demonstrates that Leo is trying hard to ground his message in the Church’s tradition. By his constant appeal to the saints, he is in fact saying, “My teaching is not my own” (John 7:16).
Solid Beginnings
There are always things one can quibble with about any Church document—I wish it had said more about this, or less about that, or was more straightforward on this, etc. That’s to be expected. But overall, I found this a very solid beginning for Leo’s pontificate. It is, in some sense, a transitional document. Leo is trying to find his voice, and if Dilexi te is any indication, that voice will be somewhere between the effusive bluster of Francis and the reflective intellectualism of Benedict XVI. I look forward to hearing more from the Holy Father as he continues to refine his message.
In my opinion, though, Dilexi te is an excellent document. It doesn’t say anything groundbreaking, but it doesn’t need to. In fact, if we understand Church teaching and the papal office aright, papal documents should generally not say anything groundbreaking. Rather, they should point us toward the Gospel, in light of tradition, and exhort us to follow our Lord with greater fidelity. In this, Dilexi te succeeds. I was actually inspired to contemplate ways that my children and I could better live out the Gospel’s call to attend to the poor, which Leo reminds us, is not some kind of ancillary add-on to the Catholic faith but is, in fact, integral to it.
What are your thoughts on this topic? Join other homeschooling parents and me in the Homeschool Connections Facebook Group or in the HSC Community to continue the conversation.
