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| Credit: www.afp.com |
The media, both mainstream and the ever-effervescent blogosphere, is alight with claims and counter-claims about what Pope Francis really meant. In an unusual move, he wrote an open letter last week to Eugenio Scalfari, the atheist founder of Italian newspaper La Repubblica, after the latter had published questions to the Holy Father regarding the latest encyclical letter, Lumen Fidei. Scalfari had asked what the Church believes about salvation for those who profess not to believe.
Responses to the Pope’s ensuing statement have been all over the map. In England, The Independent made the headline: “Pope Francis assures atheists: You don’t have to believe in God to go to heaven.” Many in the Catholic press professed confusion and decried the Pope’s lack of tact and precision. Many Protestants picked this up as evidence that Catholic theology no longer follows scripture, or unnecessarily complicates what scripture makes clear, such as Hebrews 11:6.
