Pope Leo XIV signs his first apostolic exhortation, "Dilexi Te" ("I Have Loved You"), in the library of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican Oct. 4, 2025, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, as Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the substitute secretary for general affairs at the Vatican Secretariat of State, looks on. The exhortation was released Oct. 9. (CNS photo/Vatican Media) Pope Leo XIV released the first major document of his young pontificate on October 9, in which he called upon all the Christian faithful – especially Catholics – to “make their voices heard,” in decrying the sinful structures that contribute to poverty and make life for the poor even more miserable than it already is.…
