Following the publication of the Pope’s new encyclical ‘Dilectit Nos’, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Gospel, told Vatican News that the Heart of Jesus is an important key to understanding the writings and actions of Pope Francis.
Vatican News
Vatican City, Wednesday, November 6, 2024 (Rei): “You can say that I am my heart, because my heart is what differentiates me, shapes my spiritual identity and connects me with other people.” This is one of the influential passages from Pope Francis’ ecumenical encyclical, Dilexit Nos, published on October 24, a document that did not receive as much attention as the two social encyclicals, Laudato si’ and Fratelli tutti, but which nevertheless It was central. to his entire pontificate is similar to an explanatory key.
Dilexit Nos can also be helpful in better understanding events such as the recently concluded Synod and the 2025 Jubilee that will begin in a few weeks.
Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, spoke with Vatican News about this new encyclical and reflected on the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, so widespread in the Philippines and that he learned in his youth.
Q: The publication of “Dilexit Nos” has caused some surprises. Following his social doctrinal encyclicals, “Laudato Si” and “Fratelli Tutti”, Pope Francis has issued this spiritual encyclical. How did you find this document?
Pope Francis is the Pope of miracles. Although the announcement of the encyclical and its final publication were unexpected given the focus of the Synod of Bishops, I am not at all surprised that the Holy Father published an encyclical on Jesus’ love for us, symbolized in his Sacred Heart. For me, this is the Pope’s way of further clarifying the ecclesiastical foundation of the social encyclicals “Laudato Si’s” and “Fratelli Tutti.”
When we receive the love of Jesus, it allows us to see brothers and sisters in other human beings (fratelli tutti) and to be supportive, humble and responsible stewards of our common home (laudato si’). I must say that Pope Francis’ writings and sermons are consistently based on our faith in the person and mission of Jesus Christ. I suggest that we read these two social encyclopedias once again to find the traces or seeds of Dilexit Nos that are already present in them.
Question: Devotion to the Sacred Heart is very popular in the Philippines and attracts mainly the laity, the people of God. How has your experience of this devotion been in your country?
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is widespread in the Philippines. We are grateful to the religious orders that bear the name of the “Sacred Heart”, the Congregation of Jesus and the Apostles of Prayer, who promote devotion in dioceses, parishes, schools and families. In addition to the vigil and prayer every first Friday of the month, keep an image of the crowned Sacred Heart in your home. We pray to the Heart of Jesus that He may govern our families and our nation with His mercy and love. This prayer comes from a people whose hearts have been wounded under the rule of injustice, greed, corruption and indifference.
Devotion also reminds us that we must constantly ask Jesus to make our hearts more like his. Even today we sometimes sing the official anthem of the International Eucharistic Congress held in Manila (1937). It is a hymn of the Sacred Heart in Spanish where the nation offers its heart to Jesus: “No more love than yours, or Divine Heart. The Filipino people give you their Heart.” This song never fails to comfort the heart and bring tears to the eyes.
Question: In “Dilexit Nos”, the Pope says that today man is losing his heart and we, Christians, are invited to rediscover the heart of Jesus and how he loves us. What can be done to rekindle the awareness that everything arises from our hearts?
In Dilexit Nos, Pope Francis describes the phenomenon and causes of superficiality that is spreading as a culture, which prevents us from connecting with the heart, from which love, truth and compassion emerge.
I suggest we read the Pope’s description of superficiality as a guide to the examination of conscience. Being aware of how I am little by little losing contact with my interiority and my true self, that is the first step to awaken our heart again.
I also love Pope Francis’ enumeration of the saints, or what I call the “parade” or “procession” of the saints, which testifies to his immense love for the Heart of Jesus and how it has shaped his life and his mission. I suggest we watch “The Parade” and join the “Parade.” We can revive heart consciousness not through concepts or abstractions but by listening to hearts that have found true life in the loving Heart of Jesus.
Question: The heart takes into account the individual and relationships. At the recently concluded Synod in which you participated, there was much debate about changing relationships, including in the final document. Could this encyclical serve as a compass to guide the path of a synodal Church, as Pope Francis encourages?
Dilexit has a lot to teach us the Church that wants to be a synod and missionary. During the just-concluded session of the Synod of Bishops, it was repeatedly stated that the Synod is ultimately about relationships: with God, with all the baptized, with all humanity and creation that make up the Church.
The renewal of the Church in the Missionary Synod is only possible if we enter into a relationship of faith, obedience and humility towards the Triune God who is love. The missionary Synod requires a heart-to-heart relationship between priest and believers, between local churches, etc., where the heart of each is cleansed of prejudice against others and pride of self-promotion and is therefore open to sympathy.
Without human relationships purified by divine grace, missionary synods can be limited to mere bureaucratic and legal proposals, without the flame of divine love, without a heart lit by the Holy Spirit.
Question: The Jubilee Year is approaching, a Year of Grace, Reconciliation and Salvation, a Holy Year that the Pope has focused on the theme of hope. How does the Encyclical on the Heart of Jesus relate to this upcoming Jubilee Year?
I see that dilexit us The connection between this and the next Jubilee focuses on the pilgrimage of hope, on the missionary dimension of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. First, the Heart of Jesus is a missionary heart that brings an abundance of divine love through a human heart to all people, all human conditions, and creation.
The merciful love of the Heart of Jesus offers hope to a broken world, especially to those who see no possibility of salvation in their lives. Pope Francis invites us to receive the love of Jesus into our hearts and let it flow, and not prevent the love of Jesus from flowing to other people and society.
dilexit us This Jubilee is a valuable spiritual and missionary resource that prepares each of us to become a pilgrim who shares with others the love of Jesus, a love that frees all hearts from fear, from pride, from selfishness, from indifference, revenge and despair. He loves us, that’s why we have hope.
