Pope Leo will publish the first document of his tenure on October 9, the Vatican said on Saturday (October 4, 2025), with a text that is likely to offer hints about the new pontiff’s priorities for the 1.4-billion-member Catholic Church.

The document, known as an apostolic exhortation, will take the name “Dilexi te” (He loved you), and was formally signed by the Pope on Saturday ahead of its publication, the Vatican said.

Several Vatican officials told Reuters in recent weeks that Pope Leo’s text will focus primarily on the needs of the world’s poor.

The Vatican did not give details about the document on Saturday but the title suggests Pope Leo wants to signal continuity with the late Pope Francis, whose last major document, an encyclical, was issued in October 2024 with the name “Dilexit nos” (He loved us).

Pope Leo’s document completes a writing project first started by Francis but left uncompleted before the pontiff’s death in April, after 12 years leading the global Church, said the officials.

Leo, the first U.S. Pope, was elected to replace Francis by the world’s cardinals on May 8.

Pope Leo formally signed the text on Saturday, the Catholic feast day celebrating St. Francis of Assisi, the 13th century Italian saint renowned for his vow of poverty and closeness to nature.

Pope Francis, the first pontiff to take the saint’s name, shunned many of the trappings of the papacy. He often hosted meals with Rome’s homeless population and frequently criticised the global market system as not caring for society’s most vulnerable people.

Francis’ last encyclical, “Dilexit nos,” took a different approach from many of his other writings, largely abstaining from talking about political issues and focusing on spiritual themes.

In that text, Francis urged the world’s Catholics to abandon the “mad pursuit” of money and instead devote themselves to their faith.

Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla are set to make a state visit to the Vatican in late October, six months after the trip was postponed due to the illness of the late Pope Francis.

While the king and queen delayed their formal state visit in April, they met privately with Francis during their four-day state visit to Italy. Francis died just two weeks after the meeting, which took place on the occasion of the royal couple’s 20th wedding anniversary.

The rescheduled visit will allow Charles and Camilla to join the new pope, Leo XIV, in celebrating the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year, Buckingham Palace said in a statement. The Jubilee is a year of reconciliation and pilgrimage that the church celebrates every 25 years.

The visit to the Vatican is also symbolic of the effort to build closer ties between the Catholic Church and the Church of England, which split from Rome in the 16th century during the reign of King Henry VIII. Charles, who is head of the Church of England, has made building bridges between people of all faiths a priority since he ascended the throne two and a half years ago.