From the desk of the Tar Heel disciple: June 18, 2025
The recently deceased Pope Francis wrote four encyclicals. The first, Lumen fidei (June 29, 2013) was, as he openly acknowledged within the text, was partially written by his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. The next two, sometimes identified as “social encyclicals,” Laudato Si’ (May 24, 2015) and Fratelli tutti (October 3, 2020) were very obviously more completely in line with the vocabulary and sociological and theological thought of the Argentinian pope.
|
They also drew significant attention by secular as well as ecclesiastical reviewers. In contrast, his last encyclical, Dilexit nos, dated October 24, 2024, nearly six months before his death, has received comparatively little attention. Its Latin title, “He loved us,” is derived from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans (8:37), and is subtitled, “On the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ.” (Click on the link to read this encyclical online).
|
|
Francis himself attempted to link his last encyclical with his previous two: “The present document [Dilexit nos] can help us see that the teaching of the social Encyclicals Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti is not unrelated to our encounter with the love of Jesus Christ. For it is by drinking of that same love that we become capable of forging bonds of fraternity, of recognizing the dignity of each human being, and of working together to care for our common home.” (#217)
|
But perhaps more interestingly, he offered an extensive and wide-ranging summary of the history of the devotion to the Sacred Heart, including significant references to his predecessors, including Popes Leo XIII, Pius XII, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI. These references make the document rich in spiritual theology. Pope Benedict, in 2006, in recognition of the fiftieth anniversary of the encyclical of Pius XII, Haurietis aquas, on devotion to the Sacred Heart, wrote a public letter to the superior general of the Jesuits, by means of which he highlighted the special role of the Jesuits, historically, in fostering devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
|
Perhaps by means of this relatively brief and spiritually rich document, Benedict inspired his successor, Francis, only months before his death, to return to this rich devotion and meditation on God’s love.
Pope Benedict’s letter is most worthy of personal meditation:
