{"id":57257,"date":"2026-03-31T07:00:50","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capp-usa.org\/?p=57257"},"modified":"2026-03-24T17:15:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T17:15:24","slug":"not-giving-to-the-poor-is-stealing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/5.capp-usa.org\/es\/2026\/03\/not-giving-to-the-poor-is-stealing\/","title":{"rendered":"What If Not Giving to the Poor Is Stealing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin our Newsletter<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

 <\/p>\n

What If Not Giving to the Poor Is Stealing?<\/span><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

by CAPP-USA<\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n

5 Radical Lessons from Pope Leo XIV\u2019s Dilexi Te that Flip the Script on Wealth, Poverty, and Faith.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of us think of charity as optional. A kind gesture. A good habit. A \u201cnice to have\u201d in a decent life.<\/span><\/p>\n

But what if that view is not just incomplete\u2014but wrong?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\"Giving<\/p>\n

Giving to the poor is not optional. Is the theft to hold onto what we don't need.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

What if, in some cases, keeping your surplus wealth is actually a form of theft?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Dilexi Te<\/a> (\u201cI Have Loved You\u201d) is Pope Leo XIV\u2019s first Apostolic Exhortation\u2014a formal teaching letter addressed to the entire Church\u2014focused on poverty, justice, and what faith actually demands of us.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are five surprising\u2014and perhaps jarring\u2014insights from the text that challenge the very foundation of how we think about wealth.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Keeping What You Don\u2019t Need Is Stealing<\/span><\/h2>\n


This may be the most radical claim in the text: Not giving to the poor isn\u2019t just uncharitable\u2014it\u2019s stealing<\/strong>. Drawing on the early Church Fathers, the Pope reminds us of the<\/span>\u00a0universal destination of goods<\/a>. If you possess more than you need for a dignified life while your neighbor lacks the essentials, that surplus doesn\u2019t truly belong to you. As Saint John Chrysostom famously put it:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNot giving to the poor is stealing from them, defrauding them of their lives, because what we have belongs to them.\u201d (Pope Leo XIV, 42)<\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n

In a world obsessed with absolute property rights, this reframes charity from a \u201cpaternalistic kindness\u201d into an act of justice.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. The Church\u2019s Treasure Isn\u2019t in a Vault<\/span><\/h2>\n


<\/span>We often measure the success of an organization by its balance sheet or its physical assets. In the third century, the Roman authorities made the same assumption. When they demanded that Saint Lawrence hand over the \u201ctreasures of the Church,\u201d they expected chests of gold.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, Lawrence presented the city\u2019s poor, the sick, and the suffering.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t just an uplifting historical anecdote; it\u2019s a direct challenge to our modern value system. It suggests that the true wealth of our community isn\u2019t found in our stock portfolios or the prestige of our institutions, but in our most vulnerable members. They are the \u201ctreasures\u201d because they are a \u201cmirror\u201d of Christ and the presence of the divine is uniquely accessible through service to them.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Who\u2019s Really Teaching Whom?<\/span><\/h2>\n


<\/span>In the standard \u201cnon-profit\u201d model, there is a clear giver (who has the answers) and a clear receiver (who has the problems). Dilexi Te<\/em> completely flips this script.<\/span><\/p>\n

It argues that those living in poverty are not passive objects of our aid\u2014they are active agents who have much to teach us. Their resilience and their reliance on faith offer a \u201cmysterious wisdom\u201d that those of us insulated by comfort often lack.<\/span><\/p>\n

The takeaway<\/strong>: We aren\u2019t just called to \u201chelp\u201d the poor; we are called to be evangelized<\/em> by them. Genuine charity becomes a mutual relationship where the person \u201cgiving\u201d often ends up receiving the greater spiritual lesson. Not giving to the poor also means not receiving from them.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Poverty Evolves: What Counts as \u201cPoor\u201d Today?<\/span><\/h2>\n


What does it mean to be poor today? It\u2019s not just about a fixed dollar amount. The text argues that poverty is dynamic<\/em>\u2014it\u2019s measured by what a person needs to participate in society:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n