On October 24, 2024, the Pope presented his fourth encyclical, Dilexit nos, to the Church and the world. On the human and divine love of the Heart of Jesus Christ. In a time marked by great violence, Francis felt the urgent need to speak again about love, starting from its source: the Heart of Jesus.
The love that saves
After calling us to reflect on creation (Laudato si’) and universal fraternity (Fratelli tutti), the Pope has given us a long and beautiful meditation on the love that saves, the love that redeems, the love that gives itself freely to everyone without distinction. And he himself emphasizes a clear continuity between what he wrote yesterday and what he has written today: «What this document expresses makes it possible to discover that what is written in the Social Encyclicals Laudato si’ and Fratelli tutti is not unrelated to our encounter with the love of Jesus Christ, because, by drinking deeply from this love, we become capable of weaving bonds of fraternity, recognizing the dignity of every human being, and caring together for our common home» (no. 217).
What message for the Church and the world
The message that Francis gave and continues to give to the Church and the entire human family springs from a single source, presented in the clearest and most direct way: Christ the Lord and His love for all humanity. The truth for which the Pope has devoted and continues to devote his life: «Let us go to the Heart of Christ… which is a blazing furnace of divine and human love and is the greatest fullness that human beings can attain» (no. 30).
From the Heart of Christ, gestures and words of love
Francis knows the loneliness and disorientation of contemporary people and for this reason wanted to remind them of what often eludes them in the sterile rush of everyday life: «God does not love us in words; he draws near to us and, in being close to us, gives us his love with all possible tenderness» (no. 36). «When it seems to us that everyone ignores us, that no one is interested in what happens to us, that we are not important to anyone, He is attentive to us» (no. 40).
Love at the heart of everything
Secularization is not stopping; on the contrary, it continues to advance, fueled by the promise of emancipation that keeps deceiving those who think that, for the world to be truly livable, it must free itself from God. Faced with this deadly deception, Francis brings us back to the center, to the truth of a God who becomes human, takes on flesh, and loves with a heart like ours so that we may feel loved and, in turn, become capable of loving in union with his human and divine Heart. Only by returning to the Heart of Christ and, in doing so, to our own hearts, can the world become that common home in which human beings - all brothers and sisters - will lay down their weapons and recognize themselves as children of one Father.
Pope Francis, with Dilexit nos, has placed a unique and precious treasure in our hands. A treasure that, drawing on devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, has brought us back to the heart of the Christian message: love; true love, which is not envious, does not boast, is not proud, does not dishonor others, is not self-seeking, is not easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs, does not delight in injustice but rejoices with the truth. Love that always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love that never ends.
And did you already know about this new encyclical? Do you think that returning to the Sacred Heart of Jesus could be the key to aspiring to a world in which violence and war no longer have a place? Tell us in the comments!
