This morning, October 4, 2025, at 8:30 a.m., Pope Leo XIV signed his first apostolic exhortation, Dilexi te ("I have loved you") at the Apostolic Palace. This document, the first magisterial text of his pontificate, focuses on love for the poor and will be made public on October 9 at 11:30 a.m. during a press conference at the Vatican. October 9 is the feast of St. John Henry Newman, who Pope Leo has named a doctor of the Church.
Signed this morning by Leo XIV in the private library of the Apostolic Palace in the presence of the substitute in the Secretariat of State, Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, this apostolic exhortation is unique in that it is a legacy of his predecessor.
Pope Francis had been working on the text during the last months of his pontificate, placing this exhortation in the continuity of his last encyclical, Dilexit nos ("He loved us"). That last document focused on devotion to the human and divine love of the Heart of Jesus. The Argentine pontiff thus sought to highlight the link between spiritual roots and social commitment: From the experience of God's love for us, to the awareness of God's love for our neighbor and how that must determine our behavior toward them.
It is not uncommon for popes to take up and complete a text begun by a predecessor at the beginning of their pontificate. In 2006, Benedict XVI's first encyclical, Deus Caritas est, revisited certain aspects of John Paul II's thinking. Even more explicitly, in 2013, Pope Francis took up the encyclical begun by Benedict XVI before his resignation, saying in the introduction that Benedict had mostly finished it.
That document, thus written by "four hands" and published under the name Lumen Fidei, focused on faith. It was thus the conclusion of the series on the theological virtues that Benedict had already begun.
A sign of continuity
This passing of the torch at the beginning of a pontificate is a tangible sign of the continuity of tradition between the Successors of Peter.
"Popes always explicitly link their actions and teachings to what their predecessors have done and said. It is a way of expressing the continuity of the community of faith that lives in history," French canonist Bishop Patrick Valdrini told I.MEDIA.
With Dilexi Te, Leo XIV thus follows in the footsteps of the 266th pope, paying tribute to the man who never ceased to call for "a poor Church for the poor." By publishing his last, unfinished words, he is in a sense delivering his predecessor's magisterial testament.
The 266th pope chose his name in honor of St. Francis of Assisi. Leo XIV's signing of this text on October 4, his liturgical feast day, is therefore a clear symbol of continuity with his predecessor.
Pope Francis, who made his first trip to Lampedusa to visit the victims of modern-day poverty, migrants, was seen by the public as "the pope of the poor." He was also the one who instituted World Day of the Poor in 2017.
An exhortation rooted in the history of the Church
Concern for the poor is rooted in the entire history of the Church, drawing first on the Gospel and then on the many saints who founded religious congregations dedicated to the care of the poor.
Beyond the natural references to Pope Francis, this text will likely also draw from the magisterium of the popes of the contemporary era since Leo XIII, whose encyclical Rerum novarum (1891) is considered a founding text of the social doctrine of the Church.
Upon his election on May 8, Leo XIV placed himself in the lineage of that Italian Leo, who reigned from 1878 to 1903 and was the last to use this name.
Leo XIV explained that he chose this name in order to "give more attention to social issues in the world, and to questions of justice," in a world radically changed by the development of artificial intelligence.
While Dilexi te is an apostolic exhortation, Leo XIV's first encyclical, which is expected to focus on contemporary anthropological challenges, is due to be published in the coming months.
This coming May 5 will be the 135th anniversary of Rerum Novarum.
