‘Dilexit nos’: A brief guide for busy readers

Pope Francis’ new encyclical ‘re-proposes’ devotion to Christ’s heart.

Pope Francis published the fourth encyclical of his so far 11-year pontificate Thursday.

A Sacred Heart of Jesus statue in Alsace, France. © Ralph Hammann - Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

The 141-page, 28,000-word Dilexit nos (“He loved us”) follows 2013’s Lumen fidei (co-written with Benedict XVI), 2015’s Laudato si’, and 2020’s Fratelli tutti.

The new…