Pope Leo XIV‘s first apostolic exhortation, “Dilexi Te” (“I have loved you”), promulgated yesterday – the feast day of St. John Henry Newman – explores love and charity for the poor. Among the quotes that give a sense of what the document contains is this: “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. In this sense, our relationship with the Lord, expressed in worship, also aims to free us from the risk of living our relationships according to a logic of calculation and self-interest.”
