by Mary Cullen

‘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’.

With these words Pope Leo sets out the core message of his first Apostolic Exhortation, Dilexi Te (I have loved you), which he signed on 4^th October, the feast of St Francis of Assisi.  Pope Francis had started work on a document on the church’s care for the poor in the last months of his life, and Leo completed it, adding his own reflections.

Chapter one opens with the gospel story of the woman anointing Jesus in Bethany.  She steps forward pours precious ointment on his head.  The male disciples are angry: the ointment could have been sold, they say, and the money given to the poor.  But Jesus tells them to leave the woman alone; she did what was in her power to do.  She has anointed him for burial, and wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her (Mt 26:13).

Dr Mary Cullen is editor of Open House.

Photo by Ra Dragon on Unsplash