By CatholicPhilly Staff • Posted October 15, 2025

Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez shared a statement Oct. 14 welcoming the recent release of Pope Leo XIV’s first Apostolic Exhortation, Dilexi Te (“I Have Loved You”).

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“I gratefully welcomed the recent release of Pope Leo XIV’s first Apostolic Exhortation, Dilexi Te (“I Have Loved You”). His letter calls for a much-needed and renewed Christian commitment and closeness to the poor through charitable action and efforts to address systemic issues that create endless cycles of poverty throughout the world.

This letter is important, timely, and it deserves our attention. In it, the Holy Father traces the history of the Church’s ministry to those in need and emphasizes Catholic Social Teaching concerning the rights and dignity of the poor. He notes “the close connection between Christ’s love and his summons to care for the poor,” and considers it an essential “path to holiness.”

I echo Pope Leo’s vision for the Church serving as a vessel of Christ’s compassionate love, and I pray that this Apostolic Exhortation may inspire a renewal of our Church and our society. In his conclusion to Dilexi Te, Pope Leo XIV calls love both “a way of looking at life and a way of living it.”

“A Church that sets no limits to love, that knows no enemies to fight but only men and women to love,” Pope Leo writes, “is the Church that the world needs today.”

On behalf of the bishops, clergy, consecrated religious, and lay faithful of the Church of Philadelphia, I encourage everyone to read, reflect upon, and pray about the message offered by our Holy Father. May God abundantly bless his Petrine ministry.”

Most Reverend Nelson J. Pérez, D.D.
Archbishop of Philadelphia

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Editor’s Note: The full text of Dilexi Te may be found on the website of the Holy See in English at https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/apost_exhortations/documents/20251004-dilexi-te.html and in Spanish at https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/es/apost_exhortations/documents/20251004-dilexi-te.html