Published on October 4, 2025, the Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi Te on love for the poor constitutes the first magisterial document written by the Holy Father Leo XIV.1 In its opening paragraphs, the text clarifies that it was originally a project prepared by Pope Francis in the final months of his life (Cf. DT 3). Furthermore, it informs the reader that Leo XIV received this work as an inheritance, making it his own -and enriching it with his own reflections- in order to present it at the outset of his Pontificate (Cf. DT 3). The purpose of this approach is to emphasize, through his nascent Pontifical Magisterium, that the preferential option for the poor is rooted not merely in human kindness but in Divine Revelation (Cf. DT 5). In this manner, Pope Leo XIV once again directs our attention to the peripheries, placing them at the center thereby appropriating one of the most significant aspects of Francis's legacy: «reality is best viewed from the sidelines» (DT 82). Accordingly, this essay proposes to reconsider poverty and the poor as a locus theologicus, taking Dilexi Te as a pivotal point. To this end, we will examine its close connections with the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium on the proclamation of the Gospel in today's world, the great programmatic text of Pope Francis. Without attempting to exhaust the totality of the very evident connections, this reflection seeks to confirm a harmonious continuity between both pontificates. Ultimately, it aims to highlight their fidelity to the Gospel and its clear social content (Cf. EG 177), reaffirming that «for Christians, the poor are not a sociological category, but the very "flesh" of Christ» (DT 110).