"You will go to heaven if you don't believe in God"

olamide oni

December 28, 2015 10:30 AM

The pontiff maintained that you do not have to be Christian to get the mercy of God.

Pope Francis

Pope Francis, in an open letter to the founder of La Repubblica newspaper, Eugenio Scalfari has said that atheists and unbelievers will still make heaven as long as they followed their consience.

He said that you do not have to believe in God to be forgiven by him.

Mr. Scalfari, who is not a catholic, asked the pope a series of question which he replied to in an open letter.

Pope Francis wrote: “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.

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“Sin, even for those who have no faith, exists when people disobey their conscience.”

According to The Independent, Robert Mickens, the Vatican correspondent for the Catholic journal The Tablet, said the pontiff’s comments were further evidence of his attempts to shake off the Catholic Church’s fusty image, reinforced by his extremely conservative predecessor Benedict XVI. “Francis is a still a conservative,” said Mr Mickens. “But what this is all about is him seeking to have a more meaningful dialogue with the world.”

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