Dilexit Nos - He Loved Us

Only Love Will Save Humanity.

Pope Francis issued his fourth Encyclical on the 24th October 2024, called "Dilexit nos" ('He loved us'): on Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ. A world that has become "heartless" and indifferent to greed and war, and a Catholic Church in need of revitalising its missionary joy need to open themselves up to Christ's infinite love, Pope Francis wrote.

The encyclical includes numerous reflections from the Bible, previous magisterial texts and the writings of saints and his fellow Jesuits, to re-propose to the whole church the centuries-old devotion.

"In the deepest fibre of our being, we were made to love and to be loved," the Pope wrote. However, he wrote, "when we witness the outbreak of new wars, with the complicity, tolerance or indifference of other countries, or petty power struggles over partisan interests, we may be tempted to conclude that our world is losing its heart." Christ's Heart is aflame with infinite love, and Christ desires to be loved and console in return, especially by loving and serving one's neighbours and those who are most marginalised. Mission requires missionaries who are "enthralled by Christ" and are "impatient when time is wated discussing secondary questions or concentrating on truths and rules because their greatest concern is to share what they have experienced.

Pope Francis invited Catholics to rediscover or strengthen their devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the practices connected with it, particularly Eucharistic adoration and receiving the Eucharist on the first Friday of each month. This practice once served to remind the faithful that Communion was not a reward for the perfect, he wrote, but to renew people's confidence in the "merciful and ever-present love" of Christ in the Eucharist and his invitation "to union with him".

Download the Encyclical Document "Dilexit Nos".