By CatholicVote | Created at 2024-10-21 23:07:20 | Updated at 2024-10-23 22:24:28
1 day ago
CV NEWS FEED // On October 24, Pope Francis will release his fourth encyclical, Vatican News announced in an October 21 article.
The encyclical, “Dilexit nos” (“Encyclical Letter on the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ,”), centers around the Sacred Heart of Jesus, according to the article, which noted the Pope had announced in his June 5 general audience, during the month of the Sacred Heart, that he planned to publish it.
According to the text of the Pope’s general audience, the Pope said he prepared the document, “which brings together the precious reflections of previous Magisterial texts and a long history that goes back to the Sacred Scriptures,” to invite the whole Church to renew its devotion to the Sacred Heart. December 27, 2023, was the 350th anniversary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus’ first appearance to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. The anniversary celebrations will end in June 2025.
“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,” the Pope said.
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a French Visitation nun, was 26 when Jesus first appeared to her at the convent of Paray-le-Monial in Burgundy, Vatican News’ article said.
“Christ showed His heart surrounded by flames and encircled by a crown of horns—symbolizing the wounds inflicted by human sin,” the article said. “He requested that the Friday following the Feast of Corpus Christi be dedicated to the Sacred Heart. Though initially misunderstood by many, including her fellow nuns, St. Margaret Mary remained steadfast in her mission to reveal Christ’s love to the world.”
Pope Francis has shown a deep devotion to the Sacred Heart, according to Vatican News. In 2016, he exhorted priests to “orient their hearts like the Good Shepherd toward the lost and the distant.” That year, the Pope also asked bishops and priests to reflect on Haurietis Aquas, Pope Pius XII’s 1956 encylical that sought to revive the devotion when it was dwindling.
The Pope’s previous encyclicals are Lumen Fidei, which he co-wrote with Pope Benedict XVI; Laudato si’; and Fratelli tutti. Those encyclicals can be read online here.
