Leo XIV publishes first major document of pontificate: Dilexi te

[aussie_aussie_oi_oi]

Pope Leo XIV released the first major document of his young pontificate on Thursday, in which he called upon all the Christian faithful – especially Catholics – to “make their voices heard,” in decrying the sinful structures that contribute to poverty and make life for the poor even more miserable than it already is. Signed in the Vatican on October 4, Dilexi te is formally known as an Apostolic begun by Pope Francis and dedicated to the broad subject of Christian duty to care for the poor.
Apostolic Exhortations are a sort of official encouragement to the whole Church and all the faithful of every state of life, laity, religious, and clergy.
Dilexi te touches on a host of issues ranging from systemic inequality to the perverse dominance of economic over human considerations in public counsels and private decision-making, the right to education, the rights of migrants, and ways and means of combatting the “throwaway culture” – a major theme of the Francis pontificate – in an age of increasing indifference to great questions of human nature and human dignity.
Pope Leo XIV wrote in his introductory paragraphs that he is “happy to make this document [his] own,” while “adding some reflections,” and issuing Dilexi te “at the beginning of [his] own pontificate.” “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,” Leo also wrote.
The prefect of the Holy See’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, Cardinal Michael Czerny SJ, spoke to journalists in the Vatican press office on Thursday to present the new document.
In his remarks, Czerny tied the theme of care for the poor to that of peace, which has been a focus of Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate from the very start.
“In Dilexi te,” Czerny said, “Pope Leo joins Pope Francis in declaring: there will be no peace as long as the poor and the planet are neglected and mistreated.” “Christian peace is reconciling and reconciled justice,” Czerny also said. Quoting St. Teresa of Calcutta, Czerny said the poor, “do not need our pity, but our respectful love.” “Treating the poor with dignity is the first act of peace,” Czerny said. “Only a society that places the marginalized at its center can be truly peaceful,” he said, “and only a world composed of such societies can be at peace.”
https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/ ... xi-te.html

[Stella]

Paragraph 86 is worth absorbing into our comfortable mindset although it is challenging.

86. The Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, building on the teachings of the Church Fathers, forcefully reaffirms the universal destination of earthly goods and the social function of property that derives from it. The Constitution states that “God destined the earth and all it contains for all people and nations so that all created things would be shared fairly by all humankind under the guidance of justice tempered by charity… In their use of things people should regard the external goods they lawfully possess as not just their own but common to others as well, in the sense that they can benefit others as well as themselves. Therefore, everyone has the right to possess a sufficient amount of the earth’s goods for themselves and their family… Persons in extreme necessity are entitled to take what they need from the riches of others… By its nature, private property has a social dimension that is based on the law of the common destination of earthly goods. Whenever the social aspect is forgotten, ownership can often become the object of greed and a source of serious disorder.” [82] This conviction was reiterated by Saint Paul VI in his Encyclical Populorum Progressio. There we read that no one can feel authorized to “appropriate surplus goods solely for his [or her] own private use when others lack the bare necessities of life.” [83] In his address to the United Nations, Pope Paul VI spoke as the advocate of poor peoples [84] and urged the international community to build a world of solidarity.

[Doom]

I’m not sure an Apostolic Exhortation is really a major document. I get the interest given the curiosity about his views, but it is probably the lowest ranking Papal document in terms of importance.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

Indeed, an Apostolic Exhortation is not a weighty document. I've seen some places call it an encyclical, which it isn't. That doesn't mean we can just disregard it, of course.

[peregrinator]

It's interesting that there are many references to Pope Francis and the bulk of them are in two sections whose style is redolent of the late Pontiff.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

I read somewhere that PF drafted most of it, and then Leo revised it.

[Doom]

It's interesting that there are many references to Pope Francis and the bulk of them are in two sections whose style is redolent of the late Pontiff.

It is not unusual for a new Pope to begin his reign by deliberately evoking his predecessor. Thankfully, the days when Popes publicly hated each other and waged war on the memory of his predecessor are behind us.

[anawim]

I read somewhere that PF drafted most of it, and then Leo revised it.

I read basically the same thing: It was an unfinished AE by P. Francis, that P. Leo revised by adding his own thoughts.

[VeryTas]

Do you think Cardinal Fernandez had no hand in it?

[Doom]

Do you think Cardinal Fernandez had no hand in it?

The Pope is an author, so no doubt wrote it himself, but if he is wise, he would not write it without consulting with others about the content. As for whom specifically he consulted we will probably never know.

[peregrinator]

It's interesting that there are many references to Pope Francis and the bulk of them are in two sections whose style is redolent of the late Pontiff.

It is not unusual for a new Pope to begin his reign by deliberately evoking his predecessor. Thankfully, the days when Popes publicly hated each other and waged war on the memory of his predecessor are behind us.

Yes, I'm saying that Leo "invoked" Francis by including entire sections from Francis's original draft, and Francis continued his practice of citing himself extensively.