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ARTICLE
Francis’ new encyclical
On October 24, the Pope published his fourth encyclical, causing surprise and admiration.
Published on October 29, 2024 at 05:00
Encyclicals are documents of special importance in the teaching of the Popes, becoming fundamental references for the Catholic Church, but also achieving great repercussion in the world, as occurred with Laudato Si, Francis’s social encyclical with an ecological theme. Therefore, they are written in much smaller numbers than other pontifical texts.
Pope St. John Paul II, in his long pontificate, published 14; Pope Benedict XVI, just three. On October 24, Pope Francis published his fourth encyclical, causing surprise and admiration.
His three previous encyclical letters were: Lumen Fidei, on faith, on 29.06.2013; therefore, right at the beginning of his pontificate; to Laudato Si, on 24.05.2015, on care for our common home; and Fratelli tutti, about fraternity and social friendship, published on October 3, 2020.
The new encyclical was named Dilexit Nos, an expression in Latin, as with other pontifical documents, taken from the first words of the text. It can be translated as “He loved us” or literally “He loved us”, addressing the theme “the human and divine love of the Heart of Jesus”.
The text, with rich spiritual meaning, is an invitation to experience love, whose source and reference is the love of Christ, in a world that seems heartless. It is a “world that survives between wars, socioeconomic imbalances, consumerism and the anti-human use of technology”, in need of recovering “what is most important and necessary: the heart” (n. 31). To address the theme, in addition to the biblical foundation, Francis collects the contributions of theology and spirituality over the centuries, especially the experience and testimony of various saints. He highlights the importance and relevance of devotion to the Heart of Jesus, with its implications for human and social relationships.
Regarding the relationship between this encyclical and his two social encyclicals, Francis explains that “what is expressed in this document allows us to discover that what is written in the social encyclicals Laudato Si and Fratelli tutti is not alien to our encounter with the love of Jesus Christ, because by drinking this love, we become capable of forming fraternal bonds, of recognizing the dignity of each human being and of caring for our common home together” (n. 217).
In the end, the Pope asks Jesus to “strengthen our capacity to love and serve, to encourage us to learn to walk together towards a just and supportive world” (n. 220).
The encyclical is a vigorous appeal to rescue the centrality of the heart in a world in ever greater need of love, compassion and solidarity, as a path to peace, as free love opposes the logic of violence. The appeal is addressed to everyone, as every human person needs to love and be loved, but it challenges, in a special way, those who believe in Christ, called to love as he loved.
Dom Sergio da Rocha, cardinal archbishop of Salvador and primate of Brazil
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