“Dilexit nos”: New Encyclical From Pope Francis

My interests are eclectic.

So is what my Google News feed puts in my “Picks for you” section.

This morning (Thursday, October 24, 2024), I noticed an AP headline about Pope Francis denouncing something: “Pope Francis denounces a world ‘losing its heart’ in 4th encyclical of his papacy”.

I could have checked out what AP says the pope said, but long experience tells me that I’ll learn more about what a pope — or anyone else — said by reading or hearing what they actually said.

So I went to the Vatican website, and took a look at this new encyclical:

• “Dilexit nos” [“He loved us”]
  Pope Francis (October 24, 2024)
  vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/20241024-enciclica-dilexit-nos.html

And, good news for me, Vatican.va has “Dilexit nos” in my native language, English.

The encyclical — no surprises here — uses scholarly language. It’s also, for my taste, on the long side. A quick check told me that it runs upwards of 27,400 words. Here’s a sample:

“Dilexit nos” [“He loved us”]
Pope Francis (October 24, 2024)

“…WHAT DO WE MEAN BY ‘THE HEART’?

“3. In classical Greek, the word kardía denotes the inmost part of human beings, animals and plants. For Homer, it indicates not only the centre of the body, but also the human soul and spirit. In the Iliad, thoughts and feelings proceed from the heart and are closely bound one to another. [2] The heart appears as the locus of desire and the place where important decisions take shape. [3] In Plato, the heart serves, as it were, to unite the rational and instinctive aspects of the person, since the impulses of both the higher faculties and the passions were thought to pass through the veins that converge in the heart. [4] From ancient times, then, there has been an appreciation of the fact that human beings are not simply a sum of different skills, but a unity of body and soul with a coordinating centre that provides a backdrop of meaning and direction to all that a person experiences.

“4. The Bible tells us that, ‘the Word of God is living and active… it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart’ (Heb 4:12). In this way, it speaks to us of the heart as a core that lies hidden beneath all outward appearances, even beneath the superficial thoughts that can lead us astray. The disciples of Emmaus, on their mysterious journey in the company of the risen Christ, experienced a moment of anguish, confusion, despair and disappointment. Yet, beyond and in spite of this, something was happening deep within them: ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road?’ (Lk 24:32).

“5. The heart is also the locus of sincerity, where deceit and disguise have no place. It usually indicates our true intentions, what we really think, believe and desire, the ‘secrets’ that we tell no one: in a word, the naked truth about ourselves. It is the part of us that is neither appearance or illusion, but is instead authentic, real, entirely ‘who we are’. That is why Samson, who kept from Delilah the secret of his strength, was asked by her, ‘How can you say, “I love you”, when your heart is not with me?’ (Judg 16:15). Only when Samson opened his heart to her, did she realize ‘that he had told her his whole secret’ (Judg 16:18).

“6. This interior reality of each person is frequently concealed behind a great deal of ‘foliage’, which makes it difficult for us not only to understand ourselves, but even more to know others: ‘The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse, who can understand it?’ (Jer 17:9). We can understand, then, the advice of the Book of Proverbs: ‘Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life; put away from you crooked speech’ (4:23-24). Mere appearances, dishonesty and deception harm and pervert the heart. Despite our every attempt to appear as something we are not, our heart is the ultimate judge, not of what we show or hide from others, but of who we truly are. It is the basis for any sound life project; nothing worthwhile can be undertaken apart from the heart. False appearances and untruths ultimately leave us empty-handed.

“7. As an illustration of this, I would repeat a story I have already told on another occasion. ‘For the carnival, when we were children, my grandmother would make a pastry using a very thin batter. When she dropped the strips of batter into the oil, they would expand, but then, when we bit into them, they were empty inside. In the dialect we spoke, those cookies were called “lies”… My grandmother explained why: “Like lies, they look big, but are empty inside; they are false, unreal”‘. [5]

“8. Instead of running after superficial satisfactions and playing a role for the benefit of others, we would do better to think about the really important questions in life. Who am I, really? What am I looking for? What direction do I want to give to my life, my decisions and my actions? Why and for what purpose am I in this world? How do I want to look back on my life once it ends? What meaning do I want to give to all my experiences? Who do I want to be for others? Who am I for God? All these questions lead us back to the heart….”

I’m planning on reading the whole thing. Later.

Today, I just skipped down to the last few paragraphs:

“Dilexit nos” [“He loved us”]
Pope Francis (October 24, 2024)

“…218. In a world where everything is bought and sold, people’s sense of their worth appears increasingly to depend on what they can accumulate with the power of money. We are constantly being pushed to keep buying, consuming and distracting ourselves, held captive to a demeaning system that prevents us from looking beyond our immediate and petty needs. The love of Christ has no place in this perverse mechanism, yet only that love can set us free from a mad pursuit that no longer has room for a gratuitous love. Christ’s love can give a heart to our world and revive love wherever we think that the ability to love has been definitively lost.

“219. The Church also needs that love, lest the love of Christ be replaced with outdated structures and concerns, excessive attachment to our own ideas and opinions, and fanaticism in any number of forms, which end up taking the place of the gratuitous love of God that liberates, enlivens, brings joy to the heart and builds communities. The wounded side of Christ continues to pour forth that stream which is never exhausted, never passes away, but offers itself time and time again to all those who wish to love as he did. For his love alone can bring about a new humanity.

“220. I ask our Lord Jesus Christ to grant that his Sacred Heart may continue to pour forth the streams of living water that can heal the hurt we have caused, strengthen our ability to love and serve others, and inspire us to journey together towards a just, solidary and fraternal world. Until that day when we will rejoice in celebrating together the banquet of the heavenly kingdom in the presence of the risen Lord, who harmonizes all our differences in the light that radiates perpetually from his open heart. May he be blessed forever.”

Based on that very quick and superficial glance, I’ll guess that at least part of what Pope Francis is saying is that my heart — who I am, really, down past the “foliage” — matters: and that the latest software, movies, and slogans — aren’t nearly as important.

And, since the universe isn’t all about me, I figure that this is true for everyone else, too.

But like I said, I haven’t read the whole thing, much less studied it. I probably will, since my very quick and superficial glance was just that.

Although previous experience strongly suggests that I won’t find much more than a topical focus on what the Church has been saying for the last two millennia. Which I boil down to ‘I should love God, love my neighbor, and see everyone as my neighbor’.

I’ve talked about what the pope says, what I read in the news, and making sense, before:

• “Principles, Priorities, Politics: and Being Catholic”
  (September 21, 2024)
• “Truth, Beauty, and the Evening News”
  (June 15, 2024)
• “Venice Biennale Holy See Pavilion: Art and Cities of Refuge”
  (May 4, 2024)
• “Pope’s Christmas Message: ‘Urbi et Orbi’, December 25, 2023”
  (December 27, 2023) [includes embedded video]
• “Pope Francis, Politics and Being Catholic: Briefly”
  (August 28, 2023)