The words of Dilexi Te ("I Have Loved You") -- the apostolic exhortation on love for the poor released by the Vatican Oct. 9 -- come from the pen of two pontiffs, Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV.

With his April 21 death, Francis never completed the missive, but Leo -- stating he is "happy to make this document my own" by "adding some reflections" -- has now finished the task.

Students of papal pronouncements may discern and debate how much of Francis remains and how much Leo added to the text -- but there's no philosophical departure. After only three paragraphs, Leo informed readers he shares the late pope's desire "that all Christians come to appreciate the close connection between Christ's love and his summons to care for the poor."

Nor, Leo says, is it optional: "I too consider it essential to insist on this path to holiness."

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, encouraged Catholics to engage with the document's reflection on Christ's protecting love for the poor and the weak, and let it transform their lives.

"The Holy Father reminds us of a simple, life-changing truth, 'love for our neighbor is tangible proof of the authenticity of our love for God,'" said Broglio, who also leads the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services. "This means that 'charity is not optional but a requirement of true worship.'"

If concern for the poor is a critical element of Christianity, what role has the church had, and does it still have, in a world of growing inequality -- especially in Leo's home country of the United States, which has wider disparities of wealth between rich and poor than any other major developed nation? What does Leo emphasize in Dilexi Te, and what do those who both serve the poor and study poverty think of it?

"The apostolic exhortation puts forth the pope's strategic plan for the rolling out of his pontificate," Archbishop Thomas GWenski of Miami told OSV News. "And in that strategic plan, the role of the church's advocacy for an accompaniment with the poor, the marginalized, the forgotten, is going to continue to be emphasized -- as it was during Pope Francis' pontificate; as it has been throughout the history of the church -- that faith without works is dead."

"He's calling us to recommit ourselves to work with the poor," Wenski said, "and to work with the poor in ways that are more than just throwing a few dollars in the collection basket for a second collection; but to be engaged with the poor and walking with them, while at the same time helping and empowering them to reclaim their dignity as human beings."

Observing that some ideas have become flashpoints in the church, Wenski suggested Leo appears to be "trying to rehabilitate the phrase 'social justice' -- which in recent years has almost become in some circles a bad word, because of this association with certain ideological tendencies."

"But," he said, "the pope is trying to reclaim it, and place it within the constant social teachings of the church -- that we have to not only help the individual poor person, but help create the conditions that will help the poor person overcome the burdens of the structural sins that sometimes contribute to their poverty."

Structural sin is a Catholic theological concept describing how sinful actions and attitudes become embedded in the structures of society, creating both harm and injustice.

Wenski noted the document also contradicts the meritocratic pop theology purveyed by televangelists.

"This is a rejection of what is sometimes called the 'prosperity Gospel,' that holds wealth and prosperity are signs of God's favor -- and that poverty is a sign of God's disfavor, or somehow reflects the fault of the poor person himself," he said.

Asked if -- as the first American pope -- Leo's exhortation might be relative to the platforms of America's warring political parties, Wenski was doubtful.

"Some might try to hijack this exhortation to make it a defense of one political party's priorities or direction. I think that would be a mistake -- because I think the purpose of it is beyond that. He doesn't go into policy prescriptions, but underscores principles," stressed Wenski.