Pope Francis’ Letter to Non-Believers

That Pope Francis cares deeply for non-believers1 is nothing new, with his previous declaration that Jesus has redeemed atheists too having lead both to very positive responses and to a great media muddle. In today’s issue of the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Francis continues in this dialogue with non-believers by responding to questions sent to him by the atheist journalist Eugenio Scalfari regarding Francis’ encyclical Lumen Fidei, and I would like to share my favorite parts of his letter with you here.

Francis starts out by arguing that dialogue between the followers of Jesus and non-believers is “necessary and valuable” today for two reasons: First, the paradox that “Christian faith, whose novelty and impact on human life have since the beginning been expressed through the symbol of light, has become branded as the darkness of superstition that is opposed to the light of reason,” resulting in an absence of communication between Christian and Enlightenment-based contemporary culture. Second, for those who seek “to follow Jesus in the light of faith, […] this dialogue is not a secondary accessory[, but …] an intimate and indispensable expression of faith instead.” This, Francis argues, is expressed by §34 of Lumen Fidei, from which he proceeds to quote:

“Clearly, then, faith is not intransigent, but grows in respectful coexistence with others. One who believes may not be presumptuous; on the contrary, truth leads to humility, since believers know that, rather than ourselves possessing truth, it is truth which embraces and possesses us. Far from making us inflexible, the security of faith sets us on a journey; it enables witness and dialogue with all.”

After a beautiful exposition of how Francis himself came to believe in God and how the Christian faith has Jesus’ incarnation and resurrection at its heart, through which........

this pope is an enemy of the cross.

in may of this year he stated that people who do not believe in God will be allowed into Heaven. people who may have spent their entire human lives fighting against the cross of Christ, and Christians, because they may adhere to relative human secular morals and “do some good” will be let into Heaven and the Holy presence of God.

he makes an incredible logic leap error. He says because all men are redeemed by God through Jesus, those who don’t believe in God “do good” - whatever that means - they will be in Heaven.

this is blasphemy. this is a slap in the face of Jesus Christ. Jesus did die for all people, yes. but in order to be saved one must believe in Jesus’ atoning death on the cross for their sins, that Jesus is the Son of God. He lived the perfect life we couldn’t and because we put our trust and faith in Him we inherit etenal life because of what He did for us, not because of any “good”’we’do in this life. No’good works we do save us. for the pope to say atheists’ good works save them is wrong. to say anyone can enter the kingdom of heaven while denying the Father and Son is wrong. it is beyond wrong, it is evil. it is wicked teaching that will be believedby some and send them on the road to hell while they think they’re covered if they are wrong about there being no God.

this is wicked, wicked teaching that denies the necessity of Jesus in every human beings’ salvation. you can’t get into Heaven without believing in Jesus. this is a direct attack on the Gospel message. it is warped.

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