A new encyclical was promulgated on October 24, 2024: Dilexit Nos, which means “He loved us.” The document is “On the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ.” This article provides a very brief summary of the text.
The encyclical consists of a brief introductory paragraph, five main chapters, and a conclusion. The introduction cites multiple Scripture passages about Jesus Christ’s love for us. The first chapter (2–31) reflects on the image of “the heart” as an expression of Christ’s love (2). In both Greek antiquity (philosophy and literature) and in Sacred Scripture, “the heart” symbolizes the core of the person, where one’s authentic thoughts and emotions reside and from which they proceed.
One needs to guard the heart, seeking what is truly important in life rather than what is superficial (3–8). Pope Francis admits this is challenging in today’s world. For, “we find ourselves immersed in societies of serial consumers who live from day to day, dominated by the hectic pace and bombarded by technology, lacking in the patience needed to engage in the processes that an interior life by its very nature requires” (9). Precursors to our contemporary lack of interiority are already found in what Francis calls “pre-Christian rationalism” and “post-Christian idealism.” Both of these ideologies fail to appreciate the unifying power of love, which stands at the center of human personhood (10). The consequences of such heartlessness are exemplified by Nikolai Stavrogin, a character in Dostoevsky’s Demons, whom Romano Guardini describes as being heartless and therefore incapable of being close even to himself, let alone of entering into intimate relationship with others (12).
The heart overcomes fragmentation both within an individual person and in society. For the individual, “our fulfilment as human beings is found in love. In loving, we sense that we come to know the purpose and goal of our existence in this world. Everything comes together in a state of coherence and harmony” (23). With respect to interpersonal relations, “the heart makes all authentic bonding possible, since a relationship not shaped by the heart is incapable of overcoming the fragmentation caused by individualism. Two monads may approach one another, but they will never truly connect. A society dominated by narcissism and self-centredness will increasingly become ‘heartless’” (17). The inability to enter into human relationships, a fortiori, means that one is “incapable of openness to God” as well (17). A counterexample is Mary who “pondered” in her “heart” (Luke 2:19, 51) and was completely open to God and his will (19).
The key to healing is Jesus, whose “Sacred Heart is the unifying principle of all reality, since ‘Christ is the heart of the world.’”
Relatedly, Pope Francis notes, “Saint Bonaventure . . . teaches that, ‘faith is in the intellect, in such a way as to provoke affection. . . . for example, the knowledge that Christ died for us does not remain knowledge, but necessarily becomes affection, love’” (26). St. John Henry Cardinal Newman similarly took “the phrase Cor ad cor loquitur [heart speaking to heart]” as his motto, “since, beyond all our thoughts and ideas, the Lord saves us by speaking to our hearts from his Sacred Heart” (26).
Pope Francis believes that if we wish to change society, we ought to begin with the heart. “It is only by starting from the heart that our communities will succeed in uniting and reconciling differing minds and wills” (28). Many of society’s ills are rooted in disordered hearts. Quoting Gaudium et Spes, Francis writes: “For ‘the imbalances affecting the world today are in fact a symptom of a deeper imbalance rooted in the human heart’” (29). The key to healing is Jesus, whose “Sacred Heart is the unifying principle of all reality, since ‘Christ is the heart of the world’” (31).
Love, of course, is more than mere sentiment. It must be lived in words and deeds, which Francis emphasizes in Chapter 2. “Christ showed the depth of his love . . . by concrete actions. By examining his interactions with others, we can come to realize how he treats each one of us” (33). We are called to imitate Christ’s example, and he is pleased with us when we do. “Jesus thus appreciates the good that he sees in us. . . . even if others are not aware of our good intentions or actions, Jesus sees them and regards them highly” (41).
In Chapter 3, Pope Francis turns to the Church’s reflection on the Sacred Heart. He notes that, in devotion to the Sacred Heart, the heart stands as a representative image of “the whole Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man” (48). The heart represents “the inmost core of his Person” (54). In practically every culture in history and across the globe, the heart has served as “a symbol of personal intimacy, affection, emotional attachment and capacity for love” (53).
Francis repeatedly notes, however, that when venerating images of the Sacred Heart it is not the image itself that is the object of worship. “Rather,” quoting the Council of Trent, “‘through these images that we kiss, and before which we kneel and uncover our heads, we are adoring Christ’” (56). The images are there to direct our hearts and minds to Christ, truly God and truly man, so that we can more easily contemplate his love and offer him our adoration. It bespeaks the grandeur of the miraculous Incarnation, reminding us that God the Son, in addition to his divine love for us, through his full humanity, truly loves us with a human heart. “Our devotion must ascend to the infinite love of the Person of the Son of God, yet we need to keep in mind that his divine love is inseparable from his human love. The image of his heart of flesh helps us to do precisely this” (60).
The Church Fathers were insistent about the reality of Jesus’ human affections. As just a few examples, Pope Francis quotes from St. Basil, St. John Chrysostom, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and St. John Damascene (see 62). The Sacred Heart devotion reminds us of this profound truth.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart is not just Christological; it is also Trinitarian. Christ’s “love is ‘the revelation of the Father’s mercy,’ and his desire is that, impelled by the Spirit welling up from his heart, we should ascend to the Father ‘with him and in him’” (77). The Sacred Heart devotion is also Eucharistic. One of its core encouragements is the reception of communion on First Fridays of each month (84) as well as to spend an hour in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament on Thursdays (85).
In Chapters 4 and 5, Pope Francis focuses on personal spiritual experience and communal missionary commitment as “essential aspects that contemporary devotion to the Sacred Heart needs” (91). Francis begins Chapter 4 with a long series of biblical quotes that bespeak the love of God and his care for his chosen people throughout salvation history (93–100). He follows that with similar testimony found in Church history, especially from the Fathers through the high scholastics (102–108). The love of God revealed in Sacred Scripture and testified to throughout Catholic tradition should lead us to our own personal union with Christ. As Pope Francis writes: St. Bonaventure “presents the heart of Christ as the source of the sacraments and of grace, and urges that our contemplation of that heart become a relationship between friends, a personal encounter of love” (106). Francis points to examples of this in subsequent centuries. “A number of holy women,” he writes, “in recounting their experiences of encounter with Christ, have spoken of resting in the heart of the Lord as the source of life and interior peace,” naming St. Lutgarde, St. Mechtilde of Hackeborn, St. Angela of Foligno, Dame Julian of Norwich, and St. Gertrude of Helfta as models (110), later adding Ludolph of Saxony, St. Catherine of Siena, St. John Eudes, and St. Francis de Sales as further examples (111–118). Of course, he highlights St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and the apparitions of Christ that she experienced in the seventeenth century, which were the source of present-day Sacred Heart devotion (119–124). The message entrusted to her was defended and promoted by St. Claude de la Colombière (125–128).
St. Charles de Foucauld and St. Therese of the Child Jesus also “reshaped certain aspects of devotion to the heart of Christ and thus helped us understand it in an even more evangelical spirit” (129). Thus, after several paragraphs devoted to the personal dimension of their devotion to the Sacred Heart (130–142), similar reflections from within the Jesuit tradition (143–147), general reflections on the Sacred Heart’s role in developing the interior life (148–150), and some further comments, Francis turns in Chapter 5 to the evangelical—that is, missionary—dimension.
Our best response to the love of Christ’s heart is to love our brothers and sisters.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart calls before us God’s infinite love for us. This should move our hearts to respond with our love for God personally. But it ought not stop there. For, as Francis teaches: “Our best response to the love of Christ’s heart is to love our brothers and sisters” (167). In other words, we should not keep the love of God to ourselves; we ought to share it with others.
That is why, from the very beginning, the Church has been dedicated to serving the poor and needy. “In contemplating the pierced heart of the Lord, who ‘took our infirmities and bore our diseases’ (Mt 8:17), we too are inspired to be more attentive to the sufferings and needs of others” (171). Francis continues by giving examples from the history of spirituality that testify to the “bond between devotion to the heart of Jesus and commitment to our brothers and sisters” (172; see also 173–180). Pope Francis views such examples of loving the downtrodden as a significant part of what it means to make reparation to the heart of Jesus (181–204). In this regard, Pope Francis asks some challenging questions:
What kind of worship would we give to Christ if we were to rest content with an individual relationship with him and show no interest in relieving the sufferings of others or helping them to live a better life? Would it please the heart that so loved us, if we were to bask in a private religious experience while ignoring its implications for the society in which we live? (205)
Quoting from Pope St. John Paul II, Francis insists that “consecration to the heart of Christ is thus ‘to be seen in relation to the Church’s missionary activity, since it responds to the desire of Jesus’ heart to spread throughout the world, through the members of his Body, his complete commitment to the Kingdom’” (206).
In summation, Pope Francis ends the encyclical with a prayer. “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. . . . May he be blessed forever” (220).