Pope Francis caught the entire Catholic population and atheist population off guard Wednesday. In a sermon delivered at Wednesday Mass in Rome, Francis told the crowd that "doing good" is a virtue connecting all of humanity. The Pope essentially suggested that even an atheist who "does good" will be able to reach Heaven.
"They complain if he is not one of us, he cannot do good," said Pope Francis. "If he is not of our party, he cannot do good. And Jesus corrects them, 'Do not hinder him, let him do good.''
He went on, "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 us all, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. 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."
This is major news, considering many Christians do not believe that those who don't believe will be redeemed through virtuous actions. The news from Reuters has become the second most shared piece on Reddit.
Source: huffingtonpost.com
