Pope Leo XIV’s Apostolic Exhortation “Dilex Te” is the consistent continuation of Catholic social teaching in the manner of the Roman Church. It is a semantic emptying of concepts and their inversion.
Presentation of “Dilex te” at press conference
Poverty is a social sin. Pope Leo XIV thus gave “spiritual Christianity” a new slogan, a narrative, a guideline along the path of an agenda to be followed by everyone. On October 4, 2025, the Pontiff published his Apostolic Exhortation “Dilexi te,” in which he offers his thoughts, or rather, his instructions, to politicians, businesspeople, and “ordinary mortals” dressed in the garb of “love for the poor.”
It’s hardly surprising that the social component of society is a matter close to the heart of the successor of his namesake, Leo XIII. At the beginning of his pontificate, Leo XIV justified his choice of name by continuating the social era of the Roman Catholic Church, which had begun in the encyclical “Rerum Novarum” (1891). Social justice, fraternity, and inclusivity were also the central themes of Pope Francis’s encyclical “Fratelli Tutti” (2020). Ultimately, humanity should be completely blessed by Catholic social teaching based on natural law.
Dilex te is a continuation of Francis’s letter “Dilexit nos,” according to the wording of the latest exhortation. Last Thursday, Leo’s letter was officially presented at the Vatican during a press conference. According to the letter, love for the poor is essential to the faith and requires a “conversion of structures,” because poverty consists of the “structures of sin,” according to the common denominator identified by Cardinal Michael Czerny, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development. (Source).
If this is the basis of all measures against poverty that are declared necessary, then this building can only be built on quicksand.
- “Conversion of Structures”
- “Poverty is a social sin”
- “Love for the poor is essential to faith”
These are the core tenets of this Roman Catholic philosophy based on natural law.
A structure to be converted
A “conversion of structures” can safely be considered a euphemistic term for the transformation of the economy, the financial market, society, and, of course, every single person. Whereby every single person, as such an individual, let alone with their own needs and desires, let alone their own conscience, must be absolutely eradicated. Inclusion, the magic word, already celebrated mantra-like by Francis, means nothing other than the assimilation of the individual into a uniform mass controlled by a few.
The exact opposite of what the Gospel demands. Separation from the world, that is, from the masses. This occurs automatically if one “only” orients oneself to the will of God. The rest follows naturally. The prefect could have simply said, “We want the new world order.”
When poverty is a sin
If one simply accepts the statement that “poverty is a social sin,” or that “poverty arises from the structures of sin,” as universally valid, things can get quite tricky. One can also view this without any hesitation from the position that every impoverished person commits a sin against social coexistence, or in Roman Catholic terms: against the “common good.” If one views it the way Leo XIV probably intended, things don’t get much easier, because the causes of poverty can be as diverse as the colors of a rainbow.
– Car accident, unable to work, no income – Poverty
– Illness, unable to work, no income – Poverty
– Robbery, all belongings stolen – Poverty
– Bank crash – Bail-in – Savings confiscated – Poverty
– etc.
It is what it is. Another phrase that resorts to meaninglessness, a semantic reversal, because we can now rely on people’s intellectual laziness and overstimulation. With the word “tolerance,” this same magnificently achieved meaning: from now on, we “have to endure” something that we actually reject in its entirety out of deep conscience, simply because society demands it and it’s “good manners.”
Reversal of cause and effect
Without love for the poor, one cannot believe, the statement goes. A classic reversal, and also very similar to the Roman Catholic righteousness of works. The truth is that there will always be poor people in society, just as Jesus Christ said some 2,000 years ago in Matthew 26:11:
“For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always.“
This is an important statement, as it is repeatedly presented in Mark 14:7 and John 12:8. Of course, the poor should be helped—given food and drink, cared for in their sickness, and clothed. However, this is not an existential prerequisite for faith; rather, practicing charity is visible proof of true faith!
James also had something important to say on the subject of poverty and faith, James 2:5:
“Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?“
The example presented by Jesus Christ about rich people, the camel, and the eye of the needle is widely known (Matthew 19:24) and often quoted. Far less widely reported, especially in the realms of the papal chambers, where the average doorknob probably costs more than a day laborer can earn in a year, is the following statement, James 2:9;13:
“But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.“
The gospel looks different
Mercy does not consist in the forgiveness of sins (against God) by priests, which, incidentally, is directly defined as blasphemy in the Gospel (Luke 5:21), nor in the granting of any fictions such as indulgences, nor in the sprinkling of holy water or waving incense, but in true charity, alleviating poverty rather than (covertly) encouraging it. For “your merchants were the great ones of the earth,” as Revelation 18:23 says about eschatological Babylon.
The respect of a person, that is, the consideration of the rank and name with which a human has clothed themselves. It is not the person who acts, but the human, and accordingly, the preferential treatment of a person, especially with regard to the upholding of biblical truth, is considered a sin. Well, that’s obvious, because the man Robert Francis Prevost imbues the person of Pope Leo XIV with the capacity to act and also (“hypothetically”) to commit crimes. It is not Leo XIV’s name that will be invoked at the judgment when the books are opened (Revelation 20:11-15), but Robert.
The Pope’s latest letter can certainly be used as a key to better understand the approach and traditional thought patterns of these church clergy. The Church of Rome ultimately used this key to form its catechism and its own social teaching. A complete reversal of the Gospel, which also corresponds to the nature of this Roman institution (Info).
And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
Revelation 19:20
Bibelverse aus Schlachter 2000
