Dilexit nos, Pope Francis’s new encyclical: the Heart of Christ to change the world
Announced last June, the document was released today at a press conference held at the Vatican marking the 350th anniversary of the apparitions to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque. After Lumen fidei, Laudato Si', and Fratelli tutti, it is important for Francis to “regain the most important and necessary thing of all: its heart,” this in a world that “presses forward despite wars” and “socio-economic disparities”. For Archbishop Bruno Forte, this “appears to us as a sort of challenge to look up.”
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Francis released Dilexit nos (He loved us), the fourth encyclical of his pontificate after Lumen fidei (29 June 2013), Laudato sì (24 May 2015), and Fratelli tutti (3 October 2020).
In it, the pontiff expressed hope “that our world, which presses forward despite wars, socio-economic disparities and uses of technology that threaten our humanity, may regain the most important and necessary thing of all: its heart” (31).
“In the presence of the heart of Christ,” Pope Francis calls on the Lord to “pour out the treasures of his light and love" in a suffering and superficial world.
The document presented this morning at the Vatican Press Office is centred “on the human and divine love of the Heart of Jesus Christ,” as its subtitle suggests.
Francis announced Dilexit nos at the general audience of 5 June, the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which included the presence of “the precious reflections of previous Magisterial texts and a long history that goes back to the Sacred Scriptures, in order to re-propose today, to the whole Church, this devotion imbued with spiritual beauty.”
The new encyclical was released as part of the 350th anniversary of the apparition of Jesus to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, in Paray-le-Monial, between the end of December 1673 and June 1675. Celebrations will continue until 27 June 2025.
In addition, the release comes before next year's Universal Jubilee and the final phase of the 2021-2024 Synod. The text consists of a brief introduction followed by five chapters and 220 paragraphs.
At the press conference, it was said that, “If with Laudato Si', the pope helps us imagine a world as God wants it, and with Fratelli Tutti he indicates a way to get there, with Dilexit nos Pope Francis tells us in this sense how to prepare the heart, in faith and love”.
The pope notes that Dilexit nos is written in continuity with previous encyclicals insofar that what they say “is not unrelated to our encounter with the love of Jesus Christ. For it is by drinking of that same love that we become capable of forging bonds of fraternity, of recognizing the dignity of each human being, and of working together to care for our common home” (217).
“The heart of Jesus brings us to the centre, to the centre of our person, and leads us to love with our entire being, thoughts, words, actions, feelings,” said Sister Antonella Fraccaro, General Superior of the Disciples of the Gospel, who spoke at today's press conference. “With this awareness, Pope Francis accompanies us, first of all, to enhance the value of our hearts.”
These remarks call attention to the veneration that took root following the decision by Pius IX to extend, in 1856, the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to the whole Church, which led to the foundation of congregations and institutes.
“Pope Francis reminds us that ‘I am my heart’ (14)," Sister Antonella added, “so it is crucial that all the actions of my life be placed, he says, under the ‘political rule’ (13) of the heart. This seems to me to be a beautiful expression, a beautiful perspective.”
“At the tragic time that we are experiencing, marked by the tragedy of martyred Ukraine, of what is happening in the Holy Land, a land that I love immensely, this encyclical appears to us as a sort of challenge to look up,” said Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto. “And looking up means looking for ways where the logic of the strongest who wins is not enough; instead, it is necessary to understand the human tragedy.”
The prelate told journalists that “another way” was needed to overcome situations where conflicts appear to have no way out. “I am convinced that if we do not take a bolder, more courageous path, willing to reach out, seek a compromise, a common path, with international solidarity, we will not get out of it.”
The first chapter, "The Importance of the Heart," explains why “returning to the heart” is necessary in a world in which we are tempted to become “insatiable consumers and slaves to the mechanisms of a market” (2).
This is done by looking at the meanings of “heart", from its appreciation in the Bible to the depreciation rooted in “Hellenic and pre-Christian rationalism, in post-Christian idealism and in materialism in its various guises.”
The second chapter, "Actions and Words of Love", speaks of Christ who, from the way he treats the people he meets – such as the Samaritan woman, Nicodemus and the prostitute – shows that God "is closeness, compassion and tender love” (35).
In the third chapter, "This is the heart that has loved so greatly,” the pontiff notes how the Church reflects and has reflected in the past about “the holy mystery of the Lord’s Sacred Heart.”
This is done referring to Pius XII's Encyclical Haurietis aquas, on the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus of 1956. Devotion, he says, is not of a "single organ," but of the “whole Christ."
In the fourth chapter, "Love that gives itself a drink", the Holy Father rereads the Sacred Scriptures and recognises Christ and his open side in “whom they have pierced” in which God refers to himself in the prophecy of the Book of Zechariah.
The fifth and final chapter, "Love for love", explores the community, social and missionary dimension of every authentic devotion to the Heart of Christ. In fact, “there is no greater way for us to return love for love” than through love for one's brothers and sisters (167).
Looking at the history of spirituality, the pontiff cites the missionary work of Saint Charles de Foucauld. The encyclical also mentions the services of Thérèse of Lisieux, Ignatius of Loyola, Faustina Kowalska, and Pope John Paul II.
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