An analysis of Chapter Five of Dilexi Te – “I Have Loved You”
“Love for the poor is the evangelical hallmark of a Church faithful to the heart of God.” — Pope Leo XIV In Chapter Five of Dilexi Te, titled “A Constant Challenge,” Pope Leo XIV reawakens the conscience of Christians everywhere — and for Nigeria, his message lands squarely at the crossroads of faith and daily survival. It is a passionate call for a renewed compassion toward the poor, a reminder that our Christian identity cannot exist apart from the suffering faces around us.
A Gospel meant for our streets
In Nigeria, poverty is not an abstract concept — it lives next door. It is the child hawking sachet water in traffic, the graduate without work, the widow struggling to feed her family, the internally displaced person in a makeshift camp, and the pensioner waiting endlessly for payment. Pope Leo XIV’s words pierce our collective conscience: “No Christian can regard the poor simply as a societal problem; they are part of our family.” This is a powerful rebuke to the culture of indifference creeping into our society. Too often, we look away — from beggars on the road, from families displaced by insecurity, or from neighbours who can no longer afford basic needs. The Pope, echoing the parable of the Good Samaritan, asks each Nigerian Christian: “Which of these characters do you resemble?”
Faith beyond religion: The Nigerian test
For a deeply religious country like Nigeria — where churches and mosques abound, yet poverty persists — this chapter challenges us to move beyond religious expression to incarnate faith in love. Pope Leo XIV warns against a “spiritual worldliness” camouflaged by empty religiosity — churches that pray loud but act little; believers who tithe yet ignore the hungry. He insists that any Church that “goes its own way without creative concern for the poor will risk breaking down.”
In a nation where prosperity preaching has often overshadowed compassion, this line hits home. It reminds Nigerians that genuine Christianity must show itself not only in worship but also in works of mercy — visiting the sick, educating the poor, defending the oppressed, and speaking truth to corrupt power. “We cannot separate faith in Christ from love for the poor.”
The poor as our teachers
The Pope’s words echo through Nigeria’s harsh inequalities — the gated estates beside sprawling slums, the political elites living in abundance while minimum wage earners struggle to survive. Yet Leo XIV turns the perspective around: the poor are not only recipients of charity, but teachers of the Gospel. In their perseverance, Nigerians who live in poverty show an unyielding faith and dignity. The Pope calls them “silent teachers” who awaken us to humility and dependence on God. Their endurance, even amid hardship, reveals a spirituality that transcends circumstance — a truth many in comfort fail to grasp.
Almsgiving revisited: Compassion in action
The Pope also revives the ancient Christian practice of almsgiving, a gesture sometimes dismissed as outdated or inefficient. In a nation where unemployment, inflation, and displacement leave millions without basic needs, Leo XIV insists that even small acts of kindness — a shared meal, financial assistance, a listening ear — remain sacred. He writes, “Almsgiving allows us to halt before the poor, look into their eyes, and share something of ourselves.” In Nigeria’s fast-paced, survival-driven society, such a pause can be revolutionary. It restores our humanity in a world that often prizes success over solidarity.
The Nigerian Church’s mission
The exhortation challenges the Nigerian Church — clergy, laity, and religious alike — to reject comfort and closeness to power when it dulls the prophetic voice. The Pope warns against a Church that allies with privilege while neglecting the suffering majority. Instead, he calls for “a poor Church for the poor,” one that stands with the unemployed youth, the displaced families in the North, the victims of injustice and corruption. This is not merely social work; it is Gospel in action. As the Pope writes, “Christian love breaks down every barrier… it spans chasms that are humanly impossible to bridge.”
A challenge we cannot escape Pope Leo XIV closes this chapter with a truth that cuts across all Nigerian realities — from Lagos to Maiduguri, Port Harcourt to Makurdi: the problem of the poor leads to the very heart of our faith. To ignore them is to ignore Christ. To encounter them is to meet Jesus himself in “the suffering flesh of the poor.” In a time when hardship has numbed compassion, when corruption mocks morality, and when many ask, “Where is the Church?” — Dilexi Te reminds us that love is still the Church’s greatest witness. “Through your efforts, the poor will come to realize that Jesus’ words are addressed personally to them: ‘I have loved you.’”
