Did Pope Francis say atheists don’t need to believe in
God to be saved? (9 things to know)
by Jimmy Akin Sunday, September 15, 2013 9:14 PM Comments (97)
The press is
full of accounts that, once again, claim that Pope Francis has said you don’t
need to believe in God to go to heaven.
Even atheists
can go there, according to these reports.
What’s the real story here? What’s going on? And why can’t the press get
this kind of thing right?
Here are 9
things to know and share . . .
1) What is
the basis of this story?
In July and
August, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica ran a pair of open letters to the
pope by Dr. Eugenio Scalfari, an atheist commentator.
In his open
letters, Dr. Scalfari asked the pope a number of questions. Much to everyone’s surprise, though
thoroughly in keeping with his way of doing things, Pope Francis wrote a
response, which the paper also published.
2) What
did Pope Francis say in the letter?
Basically, he
attempts to enter into a cordial and constructive dialogue, which is exactly
what you’d expect. He doesn’t go through
Scalfari’s previous open letters point by point (presumably, that would make
his own reply overly long), but he makes some general points and then attempts
to answer some questions Scalfari posed.
One of these concerns the salvation of atheists.
3) How did
the press and blogosphere react to what he said?
La Repubblica
itself gave the story a quite accurate headline: “Pope Francisco writes to La
Repubblica: ‘An open dialogue with non-believers.’”That’s a good summary of
what the pope wrote.
In England,
however, The Independent headlined it “Pope Francis assures atheists: You don’t
have to believe in God to go to heaven.”
This was inaccurate, as we will see.
The matter
got further twisted in the blogosphere, when Evangelical blogger Jay Younts did
a piece on it headlined “The Pope declares Man can save himself.” This piece was then quoted by Kirk Cameron,
who gave it the same headline and helped it go viral.
4) What
did Pope Francis actually say about atheists and salvation?
Here is the
passage:
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.
In this
passage, you’ll note that after introducing the topic of salvation, Pope
Francis begins by saying God’s mercy has no limits “if he who asks for mercy
does so in contrition and with a sincere heart.” This statement appears to apply to
believers—the ones you would expect to ask God for mercy with contrition, etc.
Pope Francis
then pivots to discuss “the issue for those who do not believe in God.” He says that for them “the issue” is
following their conscience, which will result in good behavior. This is what the press, etc., have been
interpreting as him saying that they can be saved.
But he
doesn’t actually say that. Believers
also need to follow their conscience, and doing so will result in them having
right behavior. But if they don’t follow their consciences then they sin and
need to ask for mercy with contrition and a sincere heart.
[…]
6) What
has the Magisterium already said on the subject of atheists and salvation?
In Lumen
Gentium 16, the Second Vatican Council addressed the subject of “those who,
without blame on their part, have not yet arrived at an explicit knowledge of
God and with His grace strive to live a good life.”
This passage,
like Pope Francis, stops short of saying that people in this condition can be
saved. Instead, it says: “Whatever good
or truth is found amongst them is looked upon by the Church as a preparation
for the Gospel.” She knows that it is
given by Him who enlightens all men so that they may finally have life.
This passage
speaks of the elements of “good and truth” found among those who have “not yet”
arrived at a knowledge of God as “a preparation for the Gospel” so that “they
may finally have life.”
Thus when the
text says that divine providence does not “deny the helps necessary for salvation”
to these people, it may not mean that they can be saved without faith but that
God is giving them the helps that they need to come to the point of faith and
thus be saved.
The fact that
the text is open to both of these interpretations was noted by Cardinal Aloys
Grillmeier, who was one of the authors of Lumen Gentium, in his
commentary on this part of the document (see Herbert Vorgrimler, ed., Commentary
on the Documents of Vatican II, vol. 1, p. 184).
[…]
8) Why
wouldn’t Pope Francis just settle the matter?
One reason
might be that he doesn’t think adequate study has been given to the question
yet, and so he didn’t want to go beyond what the Council said. Then there is the fact that letters to
newspapers aren’t the place for doctrinal development to take place.
Another
possibility is that he didn’t want to appear to tell Dr. Scalfari and other
atheists that they’re fine where they are, and so he spoke in a very measured
way that would invite them to consider what they really need to do when they
have sinned: ask for mercy “in contrition and with a sincere heart”—in other
words, to come to faith.
His intent
may have been to engage in a cordial, public dialogue that sidestepped the
question of whether atheists can be saved without coming to explicit faith and
that implicitly encouraged them to come to faith and ask for mercy.
This also may
have been a reason that Vatican II phrased itself the way that it did.
9) So the
media and Evangelical blogosphere reaction was wrong?
Yes.
Contrary to claims otherwise, Pope Francis did not say that atheists can go to
heaven without coming to faith, and he most certainly did not say that man can
save himself by his own efforts.
Indeed, he
speaks of the need for God’s mercy.
God Bless
Prepared by Nathan, a St.Denis parishioner
