"Pope Leo XIV criticized how the wealthy live in a "bubble of comfort and luxury" while poor people suffer on the margins, confirming in his first teaching document that he is in perfect lockstep with his predecessor Pope Francis on matters of social and economic injustice. The Vatican on Thursday released the document, entitled "I have loved you," which Francis had begun to write in his final months but never finished. Leo, who was elected in May, credited Francis with the text, cited him repeatedly, but said he had made the document his own and signed it."
"The conclusion Leo draws is that the Catholic Church's "preferential option for the poor" has existed from the start, is non-negotiable and is the very essence of what it means to be Christian. He calls for a renewed commitment to fixing the structural causes of poverty, while providing unquestioning charity to those who need it. "When the church kneels beside a leper, a malnourished child or an anonymous dying person, she fulfills her deepest vocation: to love the Lord where he is most disfigured," Leo writes."
The Church criticizes how the wealthy live in a "bubble of comfort and luxury" while poor people suffer on the margins. The Church traces a long-standing commitment to the poor from biblical citations and the teaching of church fathers through recent teachings about caring for migrants, prisoners and victims of human trafficking. Women's religious orders and lay-led popular movements receive special recognition for caring for the sick, feeding the poor and advocating for land, housing and work. The Church asserts the "preferential option for the poor" is non-negotiable and calls for structural reform alongside immediate charity.
Read at ABC7 Chicago
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