In this eight and final video of my series on human dignity, I address a topic that Pope Leo XIV drew the Church’s attention to in Dilexi Te, that is, The Preferential Option for the Poor.
One essential doctrine that flows from the Church’s understanding of human dignity is the preferential option for the poor.
In Dilexi Te, Pope Leo said that this “preferential option on the part of God for the poor” is “an expression that arose in the context of the Latin American continent” and that “has been well integrated into subsequent teachings of the Church” (DT 16).
Pope Leo is clear that not only is this preference for the vulnerable and marginalized the very heart of the Church’s mission and identity, but it’s also a source of renewal for the Church and the world.
“God shows a preference for the poor: the Lord’s words of hope and liberation are addressed first of all to them. Therefore, even in their poverty or weakness, no one should feel abandoned. And the Church, if she wants to be Christ’s Church, must be a Church of the Beatitudes, one that makes room for the little ones and walks poor with the poor, a place where the poor have a privileged place” (Dilexi Te 21).
