It had already been announced in June and was presented today – on the 350th anniversary of the apparitions to Saint Margaret Mary of Alacoque – with a press conference in the Vatican. After Lumen fidei, Laudato Si’ and Fratelli tuttiinvites us to “recover what is most important and necessary: the heart”, in a world “that survives between wars and imbalances.” Monsignor Bruno Forte: “I challenge you to look up.”
Vatican City () – So that the world “that survives between wars, socioeconomic imbalances, consumerism and the anti-human use of technology, can recover what is most important and necessary: the heart” (31). These words taken from Dilexit us (He Loved Us), the fourth encyclical of Francis’ pontificate that was published today – after Lumen fidei (June 29, 2013), Laudato Yes (May 24, 2015) and Fratelli tutti (October 3, 2020) – explain the context and content of the document. Pope Francis “before the Heart of Christ” asks the Lord “to pour out the treasures of his light and his love” on a suffering and superficial world. The document that was presented this morning in the Vatican Press Room speaks precisely “about the human and divine love of the Heart of Jesus Christ”, as the subtitle states.
Dilexit us was announced by the Pontiff in the general audience on June 5 – the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus -, in which he anticipated that it would contain “valuable reflections on previous masterful texts and a long history that goes back to the Holy Scriptures, to propose again today, to the entire Church, this worship full of spiritual beauty”. The new encyclical is published within the framework of the celebrations for the 350th anniversary of the apparitions of Jesus to Saint Margaret Mary of Alacoque, in Paray-le-Monial between the end of December 1673 and June 1675, celebrations that will continue until the June 27, 2025. Also at the gates of next year’s Universal Jubilee and coinciding with the final phase of the 2021-2024 Synod. The structure consists of a brief introduction followed by five chapters divided into 220 paragraphs.
“Yes with Laudato Si’ The Pope helps us imagine a world as God wants it, and with Fratelli Tutti indicates a path to get there, with Dilexit us “Francis tells us how to prepare the heart in faith and love,” it was explained today at the beginning of the presentation press conference. The same Pontiff indicates that Dilexit us is written in continuity with the previous encyclicals, because what they contain “is not alien to our encounter with the love of Jesus Christ, since by drinking from that love we become capable of weaving fraternal ties, recognizing the dignity of each human being and caring together our common home” (217).
“The heart of Jesus takes us to the center, to the center of our person, and leads us to love with our entire being, involving thoughts, words, actions and feelings. With this awareness, Pope Francis accompanies us to deepen the value of our own hearts,” explained Sister Antonella Fraccaro, general director of the Disciples of the Gospel, who spoke today at the press conference to refer to the cult that began consolidated in 1856, when Pius IX extended the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to the entire Church, which was followed by the founding of congregations and institutes “Pope Francis reminds us that I am my heart (14) – he continued -, therefore. That says that it is decisive that all the actions of my life are placed under the ‘political domain’ (13) of the heart. It seems to me to be a beautiful expression, a beautiful perspective.”
“In this dramatic time that we live in, marked by the tragedy of the tormented Ukraine, of what is happening in the Holy Land, a land that I love immensely – stated Monsignor Bruno Forte, archbishop of Chieti-Vasto – this encyclical is presented to us as a kind of challenge to look up. And looking upward means looking for paths where simply the logic that the strongest always wins is not enough, but it is necessary to understand the human drama.” In his dialogue with journalists he added that “another path” is also needed to get out of situations. in which conflicts have stagnated and do not contemplate a solution. “I am convinced that if we do not take a bolder, braver path, if we are not willing to seek a meeting, a commitment, a common path, with international solidarity. “You can’t get out.”
The first chapter, “The importance of the heart”, explains why it is necessary to “return to the heart” in a world in which we are tempted to “become insatiable consumerists enslaved by the gears of a market” (2). He does so by delving into the meanings of “heart,” from its valorization in the Bible to the devaluation found in “Greek and pre-Christian rationalism, in post-Christian idealism or in materialism in its various forms.” The second chapter, “Gestures and words of love,” talks about Christ who, in the way he treats the people he meets – the Samaritan woman, Nicodemus, the prostitute – shows that God “is closeness, compassion and tenderness” (35) . In the third chapter, “This is the heart that loved so much”, the Pontiff recalls that the Church reflects, and has reflected in the past, “on the holy mystery of the Heart of the Lord.” Talk about the encyclical Haurietis aquas of Pius
In the fourth, “Love that Gives Drink,” the Holy Father rereads the Holy Scriptures and recognizes Christ and his open side in the one “whom they pierced,” to whom God refers in the prophecy of the book of Zechariah. The fifth and final chapter, “Love for Love,” delves into the community, social and missionary dimension of all authentic devotion to the Heart of Christ. Indeed, love for one’s brothers is the greatest gesture “that we can offer to return love for love” (167). Reviewing the history of spirituality, the Pontiff recalls the missionary commitment of Charles de Foucauld, Therese of Lisieux, Ignatius of Loyola, Faustina Kowalska and Pope Wojtyła.
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