Vatican City, Oct 9, 2025 / 06:01 am

In the first major document of his pontificate , Pope Leo XIV writes that the poor are not only objects of charity, but evangelists who can prompt us to conversion through their example of weakness and reliance on God.

"The poor can act as silent teachers for us, making us conscious of our presumption and instilling within us a rightful spirit of humility,” Leo writes in Dilexi Te (“I have loved you” ) , released by the Vatican on Thursday. “The elderly, for example, by their physical frailty, remind us of our own fragility, even as we attempt to conceal it behind our apparent prosperity and outward appearance. The poor ... remind us how uncertain and empty our seemingly safe and secure lives may be.”

The pontiff quotes his predecessor thro

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