Daria posted this on the Pope Francis Thread: The Pope's letter to Repubblica: "An open dialogue with non-believers" http://www.catholicworldreport.com/...rancis_letter_to_the_editor.aspx#.UjDl1T9Wq24 Read the full letter: http://www.repubblica.it/cultura/2013/09/11/news/the_pope_s_letter-66336961/?ref=HRER3-1 It's really a beautiful letter, and a great example of evangelizing unbelievers who have sincere questions. Here is his closing: "Believe me, in spite of its slowness, the infidelity, the mistakes and the sins that may have and may still be committed by those who compose the Church, it has no other sense and aim if not to live and witness Jesus: He has been sent by Abbà "to bring good news to the poor... to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour" (Luke 4: 18-19). With brotherly love, Francesco
FatimaPilgrim said: ↑ So you don't have to believe in God to go to Heaven. Okie dokie. Relativism is creeping into the Vatican now? I didn't get that impression at all. Please reference the section of the letter you are referring to.
This is the part: First of all, you ask if the God of the Christians forgives those who do not believe and do not seek faith. Given that - and this is fundamental - God's mercy has no limits if he who asks for mercy does so in contrition and with a sincere heart, the issue for those who do not believe in God is in obeying their own conscience. In fact, listening and obeying it, means deciding about what is perceived to be good or to be evil. The goodness or the wickedness of our behavior depends on this decision.
Exactly! "You ask me if the God of the Christians forgives those who don’t believe and who don’t seek the faith. I start by saying – and this is the fundamental thing – that God’s mercy has no limits if you go to him with a sincere and contrite heart. The issue for those who do not believe in God is to obey their conscience." What the Pope says is that nothing prevents that, in the decisive moment, the non-believer may seek God with a contrite and sincere heart. There is nothing wrong with that. Journalists don't hesitate in deforming the very sense of news in their search for some attractive scandal.
