Pope Francis rocked some religious and
atheist minds today when he declared that everyone was redeemed through
Jesus, including atheists.
During his homily at Wednesday Mass in
Rome, Francis emphasized the importance of “doing good” as a principle
that unites all humanity, and a “culture of encounter” to support peace.
Using scripture from the Gospel of Mark,
Francis explained how upset Jesus’ disciples were that someone outside
their group was doing good, according to a report from Vatican Radio.
“They complain,” the Pope said in his
homily, because they say, “If he is not one of us, he cannot do good. If
he is not of our party, he cannot do good.” And Jesus corrects them:
“Do not hinder him, he says, let him do good.” The disciples, Pope
Francis explains, “were a little intolerant,” closed off by the idea of
possessing the truth, convinced that “those who do not have the truth,
cannot do good.” “This was wrong . . . Jesus broadens the horizon.” Pope
Francis said, “The root of this possibility of doing good – that we all
have – is in creation”
Pope Francis went further in his sermon to say:
“The Lord created us in His image and
likeness, and we are the image of the Lord, and He does good and all of
us have this commandment at heart: do good and do not do evil. All of
us. ‘But, Father, this is not Catholic! He cannot do good.’ Yes, he can…
“The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ:
all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even
the atheists. Everyone!”.. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I
don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one
another there.”
Responding to the leader of the Roman
Catholic church’s homily, Father James Martin, S.J. wrote in an email to
The Huffington Post:
“Pope Francis is saying, more clearly
than ever before, that Christ offered himself as a sacrifice for
everyone. That’s always been a Christian belief. You can find St. Paul
saying in the First Letter to Timothy that Jesus gave himself as a
“ransom for all.” But rarely do you hear it said by Catholics so
forcefully, and with such evident joy. And in this era of religious
controversies, it’s a timely reminder that God cannot be confined to our
narrow categories.”
Of course, not all Christians believe
that those who don’t believe will be redeemed, and the Pope’s words may
spark memories of the deep divisions from the Protestant reformation
over the belief in redemption through grace versus redemption through
works.
The pope’s comment has also struck a chord on Reddit, where it is the second most-shared piece.
More from Reuters:
Atheists should be seen as good people
if they do good, Pope Francis said on Wednesday in his latest urging
that people of all religions – or no religion – work together.
The leader of the world’s 1.2 billion
Roman Catholics made his comments in the homily of his morning Mass in
his residence, a daily event where he speaks without prepared comments.
He told the story of a Catholic who asked a priest if even atheists had been redeemed by Jesus.
“Even them, everyone,” the pope answered, according to Vatican Radio. “We all have the duty to do good,” he said.
“Just do good and we’ll find a meeting
point,” the pope said in a hypothetical conversation in which someone
told a priest: “But I don’t believe. I’m an atheist.”
Francis’s reaching out to atheists and
people who belong to no religion is a marked contrast to the attitude of
former Pope Benedict, who sometimes left non-Catholics feeling that he
saw them as second-class believers.
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