“To love as Jesus loved, not in the abstract but in the concreteness of history: this is the beginning of every possible reform, within and outside the Church.” This is the heart of the interview granted to SIR by Cardinal Michael Czerny, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, in light of the first Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Leo XIV, Dilexi te. “This is not an addition,” he explains, “but a return to the sources of the Gospel.” The preferential option for the poor, indicated by the Pope, calls for allowing oneself to be questioned by their cry, which intertwines with that of the earth: “It is a single plea that calls for justice, conversion, and closeness.” For Cardinal Czerny, change begins in communities: “Encountering the poor is not occasional generosity, but an authentic experience of listening and relationship.” Faith becomes credible only when it is lived out in daily life, even through small gestures: “A mother who cooks a little more, a father who offers an hour of his time: this is how love becomes concrete.” The Cardinal emphasises the civic value of the document: “Co-responsibility is not only an ecclesial principle; it is also a style of citizenship. Faith and civic engagement go hand in hand, especially when the common good is at stake.” The cry of the poor, he warns, cannot be separated from the ecological crisis: “Peace is born from an integral gaze that recognises the deep interweaving between human wounds and the wounds of creation.”