At first glance, Pope Francis’s most recent encyclical, Dilexit nos—“He loved us”—is an outlier. Its subject, the “human and divine love of the heart of Jesus Christ,” appears far removed from the focus on contemporary global challenges discussed in Laudato si’ (2015) and Fratelli tutti (2020). Much of the new encyclical, released quietly during the last week of the Synod on Synodality in October, centers on the history and significance of Sacred Heart devotion as a spiritual practice. But in unexpectedly and forcefully taking up the Sacred Heart tradition, Francis also adapts it, going beyond its personal into its social and political dimensions. Like his other major encyclicals, Dilexit nos reinvigorates Catholic social thought for a broken world through an extended reflection on the radical self-giving love at the heart of the Gospel.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus remains one of the most ubiquitous Catholic symbols, even as its veneration has declined since the middle of the last century.
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