Pope Leo XIV has published his first major teaching document, “Dilexi Te,” Latin for “I have loved you,” and subtitled “On love for the poor.” In the first chapter, he affirms that, while love for God “is one with love for the poor,” today, new and “more dangerous” forms of poverty are emerging, including the lack of material resources, land, rights and freedom.  Poverty is created by unjust laws and systems that “favor the strongest,” allowing a small number of individuals to hoard resources from our communities.  As a result, we are seeing billionaires grow wealthier while more and more people struggle to get by.  Pope Leo calls for a conversion away from these structures and attitudes that are “centered on the accumulation of wealth” at all costs “even at the expense of others.” The pope goes on to state, “In a world where the poor are increasingly numerous, we paradoxically see the growth of a wealthy elite, living in a bubble of comfort and luxury, almost in another world compared to ordinary people.  This means that a culture still persists--sometimes well-disguised--that discards others without even realizing it and tolerates with indifference that millions of people die of hunger or survive in conditions unfit for human beings.”
As faithful Catholics, we must not turn away from those who are suffering in our own community and world-wide.  We have a duty to speak out on their behalf and to seek just solutions to these injustices.