The apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te, the first document of the pontificate of Leo XIV, was recently promulgated. The initial reception of the text reveals two interpretive currents. One critical perspective points to the continuity of post-conciliar trends: the document's prolixity, the primacy of references to recent pontiffs to the detriment of the pre-conciliar magisterium, and the "pastoral" nature of the text, which avoids dogmatic definitions. Another analysis, notably that of Roberto de Mattei, identifies in the document a subtle but significant course correction. According to this view, the exhortation moves away from the socio-political activism of its immediate predecessor, recentering the theme of poverty on the theological virtue of charity, with patristic foundations and an appeal to historical examples of holiness. The thesis to be discussed, therefore, is whether Dilexi Te represents a genuine reaffirmation of Tradition or if, despite its apparent conservative modulations, it remains captive to the frame of reference that characterizes the contemporary ecclesial crisis.
📜The Primacy of the Pastoral over the Doctrinal
A preliminary but critically important observation is the classification of the document as an "apostolic exhortation" rather than an "encyclical." The distinction is not merely formal. An encyclical, by its nature, possesses an eminently doctrinal character, whereas an exhortation operates in the pastoral field, seeking to inspire a certain way of acting. This preference for the "pastoral" is a distinctive feature of the post-conciliar period, in which a new attitude was sought that favors exhortation over definition, dialogue over condemnation (Amerio, 2011, p. 51).
Pastorality, as a primary end, runs the risk of subordinating doctrinal clarity to a perceived practical effectiveness, generating an ambiguity that can weaken the very substance of the faith. A discourse that aims to be pastoral without a firm and explicit dogmatic foundation can easily slip into sentimentalism or what may be termed circiterism—an approach of approximations and metaphors that lacks logical and theological rigor (Amerio, 2011, p. 7). Although charity is a pillar of the Christian life, presenting it exhortatively, without the counterpart of a robust doctrinal framework on the nature of man, sin, grace, and the ultimate ends, can empty it of its supernatural meaning.
⚖️The Risk of "Secondary Christianity"
The central theme of the document—love for the poor—is undeniably evangelical and traditional. The noted analysis praises the document for broadening the notion of poverty beyond the material dimension to include moral, spiritual, and cultural poverties. However, it is precisely here that discernment must be exercised to avoid falling into what has been called "secondary Christianity" (Amerio, 2011, p. 2). This consists of judging religion and its mission primarily by its secondary and subordinate effects in the order of civilization, rather than by its primary and supernatural end, which is the salvation of souls.
The crucial question is not if the Church should love the poor, but how and for what purpose. Authentic Christian charity is a theological act, ordered to God, which is manifested in love for one's neighbor for the love of God. When the emphasis shifts to solving temporal problems—be they material, social, or cultural—as an end in itself, the Church's mission risks being denatured, transforming it into a humanitarian agency. The value of the exhortation, therefore, lies not in the multiplicity of forms of poverty it lists, but in the extent to which it unequivocally subordinates all charitable action to the ultimate and supernatural end of man. The absence of this clear subordination transforms charity into philanthropy and the Church into an agent of "civilization" at the expense of its salvific mission (Amerio, 2011, p. 400).
🔗The Question of Magisterial Continuity
The initial criticism pointing to the disproportion in magisterial citations—abundant references to the post-conciliar period and scarce mentions of previous pontiffs—touches a nerve center of the current crisis. The health of the Church lies not in innovation, but in the conservation and organic deepening of a deposit of faith that is immutable in its substance (Amerio, 2011, p. 558). A magisterium that refers almost exclusively to itself, within a cycle of a few decades, manifests a de facto rupture with the two-thousand-year-old Tradition.
Even if one praises the citation of Leo XIII, as de Mattei does, such a mention becomes the exception that proves the rule. The systematic absence of the vast body of doctrine on charity, social justice, and political order developed by pontiffs such as Pius IX, Pius X, Pius XI, and Pius XII is not an accidental omission but a symptom of a mentality that considers the past to be superseded. This attitude reflects a denial of the perennial character of truth and an adherence to movilism, the idea that truth evolves with history (Amerio, 2011, p. 293). A document seeking to reaffirm the doctrine of charity would be immensely strengthened if it were visibly rooted in the totality of Tradition, instead of presenting itself as an almost exclusive development of recent thought.
🕊️Charity, Truth, and the Fullness of Faith
The exhortation Dilexi Te, it seems, moves away from a direct appeal to political activism, which represents a welcome correction to certain contemporary drifts. The emphasis on almsgiving and the works of mercy, as well as the evocation of the great saints of charity, are elements of solid tradition. However, the virtue of charity does not exist in isolation. It is inseparable from the virtues of faith and hope, and it operates within the framework of Divine Law and Natural Law.
A presentation of charity that does not explicitly link it to the need for conversion, adherence to dogmatic truth, and observance of the moral law is incomplete and can lead to error. Christian love is not mere indiscriminate benevolence; it is a love that desires for the other the supreme good, which is union with God in truth. Therefore, "to feed the hungry" is inseparable from "to instruct the ignorant"—and the first teaching is the truth about God and man. The greatest act of charity is to lead souls to the truth that saves. If the exhortation dwells on the dimension of assistance without vigorously connecting it to the mission of teaching and sanctifying in the entirety of the deposit of faith, it risks promoting a "charity without truth," which, ultimately, is not the charity of Christ.
🧭Conclusion
The apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te appears to be a transitional document, reflecting the internal tensions of the post-conciliar Church. On the one hand, it attempts to rescue charity from a purely socio-political interpretation, redirecting it toward a more spiritual and personal dimension, which is laudable. On the other hand, it remains within the paradigm that generated the crisis: the primacy of the pastoral, selective reference to Tradition, and a potential ambiguity that can favor a vision of "secondary Christianity." The document can be seen as an effort to moderate the excesses of the previous period, but it does not seem to constitute a break with the principles that originated them. Thus, while it contains elements of perennial Catholic doctrine, its structure and omissions indicate that it is more a symptom of the ongoing disorientation than a decisive remedy for it.
📚References
Amerio, Romano. Iota Unum: A Study of Changes in the Catholic Church in the XXth Century. Corrected version, 2011.
de Mattei, Roberto. Dilexi Te -- Leo XIV's first Exhortation. https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2025/10/dilexi-te-leo-xivs-first-exhortation.html, Oct. 12, 2025.
📜The Primacy of the Pastoral over the Doctrinal
A preliminary but critically important observation is the classification of the document as an "apostolic exhortation" rather than an "encyclical." The distinction is not merely formal. An encyclical, by its nature, possesses an eminently doctrinal character, whereas an exhortation operates in the pastoral field, seeking to inspire a certain way of acting. This preference for the "pastoral" is a distinctive feature of the post-conciliar period, in which a new attitude was sought that favors exhortation over definition, dialogue over condemnation (Amerio, 2011, p. 51).
Pastorality, as a primary end, runs the risk of subordinating doctrinal clarity to a perceived practical effectiveness, generating an ambiguity that can weaken the very substance of the faith. A discourse that aims to be pastoral without a firm and explicit dogmatic foundation can easily slip into sentimentalism or what may be termed circiterism—an approach of approximations and metaphors that lacks logical and theological rigor (Amerio, 2011, p. 7). Although charity is a pillar of the Christian life, presenting it exhortatively, without the counterpart of a robust doctrinal framework on the nature of man, sin, grace, and the ultimate ends, can empty it of its supernatural meaning.
⚖️The Risk of "Secondary Christianity"
The central theme of the document—love for the poor—is undeniably evangelical and traditional. The noted analysis praises the document for broadening the notion of poverty beyond the material dimension to include moral, spiritual, and cultural poverties. However, it is precisely here that discernment must be exercised to avoid falling into what has been called "secondary Christianity" (Amerio, 2011, p. 2). This consists of judging religion and its mission primarily by its secondary and subordinate effects in the order of civilization, rather than by its primary and supernatural end, which is the salvation of souls.
The crucial question is not if the Church should love the poor, but how and for what purpose. Authentic Christian charity is a theological act, ordered to God, which is manifested in love for one's neighbor for the love of God. When the emphasis shifts to solving temporal problems—be they material, social, or cultural—as an end in itself, the Church's mission risks being denatured, transforming it into a humanitarian agency. The value of the exhortation, therefore, lies not in the multiplicity of forms of poverty it lists, but in the extent to which it unequivocally subordinates all charitable action to the ultimate and supernatural end of man. The absence of this clear subordination transforms charity into philanthropy and the Church into an agent of "civilization" at the expense of its salvific mission (Amerio, 2011, p. 400).
🔗The Question of Magisterial Continuity
The initial criticism pointing to the disproportion in magisterial citations—abundant references to the post-conciliar period and scarce mentions of previous pontiffs—touches a nerve center of the current crisis. The health of the Church lies not in innovation, but in the conservation and organic deepening of a deposit of faith that is immutable in its substance (Amerio, 2011, p. 558). A magisterium that refers almost exclusively to itself, within a cycle of a few decades, manifests a de facto rupture with the two-thousand-year-old Tradition.
Even if one praises the citation of Leo XIII, as de Mattei does, such a mention becomes the exception that proves the rule. The systematic absence of the vast body of doctrine on charity, social justice, and political order developed by pontiffs such as Pius IX, Pius X, Pius XI, and Pius XII is not an accidental omission but a symptom of a mentality that considers the past to be superseded. This attitude reflects a denial of the perennial character of truth and an adherence to movilism, the idea that truth evolves with history (Amerio, 2011, p. 293). A document seeking to reaffirm the doctrine of charity would be immensely strengthened if it were visibly rooted in the totality of Tradition, instead of presenting itself as an almost exclusive development of recent thought.
🕊️Charity, Truth, and the Fullness of Faith
The exhortation Dilexi Te, it seems, moves away from a direct appeal to political activism, which represents a welcome correction to certain contemporary drifts. The emphasis on almsgiving and the works of mercy, as well as the evocation of the great saints of charity, are elements of solid tradition. However, the virtue of charity does not exist in isolation. It is inseparable from the virtues of faith and hope, and it operates within the framework of Divine Law and Natural Law.
A presentation of charity that does not explicitly link it to the need for conversion, adherence to dogmatic truth, and observance of the moral law is incomplete and can lead to error. Christian love is not mere indiscriminate benevolence; it is a love that desires for the other the supreme good, which is union with God in truth. Therefore, "to feed the hungry" is inseparable from "to instruct the ignorant"—and the first teaching is the truth about God and man. The greatest act of charity is to lead souls to the truth that saves. If the exhortation dwells on the dimension of assistance without vigorously connecting it to the mission of teaching and sanctifying in the entirety of the deposit of faith, it risks promoting a "charity without truth," which, ultimately, is not the charity of Christ.
🧭Conclusion
The apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te appears to be a transitional document, reflecting the internal tensions of the post-conciliar Church. On the one hand, it attempts to rescue charity from a purely socio-political interpretation, redirecting it toward a more spiritual and personal dimension, which is laudable. On the other hand, it remains within the paradigm that generated the crisis: the primacy of the pastoral, selective reference to Tradition, and a potential ambiguity that can favor a vision of "secondary Christianity." The document can be seen as an effort to moderate the excesses of the previous period, but it does not seem to constitute a break with the principles that originated them. Thus, while it contains elements of perennial Catholic doctrine, its structure and omissions indicate that it is more a symptom of the ongoing disorientation than a decisive remedy for it.
📚References
Amerio, Romano. Iota Unum: A Study of Changes in the Catholic Church in the XXth Century. Corrected version, 2011.
de Mattei, Roberto. Dilexi Te -- Leo XIV's first Exhortation. https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2025/10/dilexi-te-leo-xivs-first-exhortation.html, Oct. 12, 2025.