Pope Francis announces his fourth encyclical, ‘Dilexit Nos,’ a teaching on the Sacred Heart of Jesus for ‘a world that seems to have lost its heart.’
By Courtney Mares, Catholic News Agency
(VATICAN CITY) — Pope Francis will publish the fourth encyclical of his pontificate on Thursday on “the human and divine love of the heart of Jesus Christ.”
The encyclical, titled Dilexit Nos, meaning “he has loved us,” will be published Oct. 24.
The pope had announced in June that he was preparing a document on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, noting that meditating on the Lord’s love can “illuminate the path of ecclesial renewal and say something meaningful to a world that seems to have lost its heart.”
Pope Francis then described the document as something that “brings together the precious reflections of previous magisterial texts and a long history that goes back to the sacred Scriptures in order to re-propose today to the whole Church this devotion imbued with spiritual beauty.”
“I believe it will do us great good to meditate on various aspects of the Lord’s love, which can illuminate the path of ecclesial renewal and say something meaningful to a world that seems to have lost its heart,” Francis said at the end of his general audience on June 5.
Encyclical to be presented Thursday, Oct. 24
The encyclical is being published amid the celebrations of the 350th anniversary of the apparitions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, which began on Dec. 27, 2023, and will conclude on June 27, 2025.
The Vatican will hold a livestreamed press conference on Thursday, Oct. 24, on the encyclical: “Dilexit Nos: Encyclical Letter on the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ.”
Archbishop Bruno Forte, an Italian theologian and a new member of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, will present the encyclical to the press together with Sister Antonella Fraaccaro, the head of the Italian religious order Discepole del Vangelo (“Disciples of the Gospel”).
Featured Image: The Sacred Heart of Jesus is depicted in a stained-glass window at St. Patrick Church in Smithtown, New York. (OSV News photo/CNS file, Gregory A. Shemitz)
