My dear brothers and sisters in Christ – January 2026
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
As we enter a new year, we are called to turn our attention to what Pope Leo XIV and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have spoken to us about our vocation to care for those in need.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
As we enter a new year, we are called to turn our attention to what Pope Leo XIV and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have spoken to us about our vocation to care for those in need.
Last October, Pope Leo released his first apostolic exhortation, Dilexi Te (I Have Loved You). From this exhortation, the pope reminds us of the importance of caring for the poor. He points out that poverty “is a multifaceted phenomenon. In fact, there are many forms of poverty: the poverty of those who lack material means of subsistence, the poverty of those who are socially marginalized and lack the means to give voice to their dignity and abilities, moral and spiritual poverty, cultural poverty, the poverty of those who find themselves in a condition of personal or social weakness or fragility, the poverty of those who have no rights, no space, no freedom.”
Furthermore, Pope Leo tells us that God chooses the poor. Quoting Pope Francis, he said that God’s heart “has a special place for the poor” and that the “entire history of our redemption is marked by the presence of the poor.” God has chosen the poor as his own. For love of him, we are to alleviate the suffering of others. The Church must become a Church for the poor.
Pope Leo says that our tradition of “visiting the sick, washing their wounds, and comforting the afflicted” is “an ecclesial action” through which we “touch the suffering flesh of Christ.” He reminds us that caring for the poor and sick is not a “philanthropic endeavor.” It is how we unite ourselves to our suffering Lord on the cross.
The Incarnation can only be truly understood by knowing that Christ “took on a flesh that hungers and thirsts, and experiences infirmity and imprisonment.” Through knowing and learning from the poor, we come to know and experience Jesus.
Care for the poor is deeply rooted in our Catholic faith: Christ was driven from the inn on the day of his birth, he was denied by his closest disciples on the day of his death, and he was cast out and crucified by his people. Let us remember that the blessed image of Christ’s face is engrained in every human person, and we must work tirelessly to walk with Christ on the way to our eternal home.
“Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Lk 9:58).
In Christ’s love,
Most Rev. Jacques Fabre-Jeune, CS
Bishop of Charleston
