Might this be a sign of infighting in the Curia? We have nearly 2000 years of history showing that is ALWAYS fun!
Kind of curious about this too.
Is Fr. Rosica merely clarifying what Pope Francis said or is he contradicting what Francis said?
Further, and a bit of an aside, when is the Pope speaking ex cathedra (e.g. when are his pronouncements considered infallible)?
I realize papal infallibility is a limited thing and is not meant to suggest that every word that passes his lips is infallible but, from the little reading I have done, it would seem this topic could fall under papal infallibility.
Good atheists invade heaven. Assassinate God.
News at nine.
psik
Czarcasm, then go out and find said “official” statement, if you aren’t satisfied with the answers given here.
Whack-a-Mole, generally he has to explicitely state that he is making an ex cathedra statement. So no, I doubt this is one of them. They’re pretty rare.
Of course, if you really believe the church is necessary, you wouldn’t reject it, so there you go. 
The way I was always lead to understand it is that ultimately, no matter what, it is up to God. And that God is the ultimate judge of who’s saved – not the church.
Czarcasm, an atheist does not know God exists; it’s faith-based knowledge, an atheist does not have it, any more than I have a height of 7’. Neither does an agnostic. A folk atheist, previously known as a folk believer, is someone who only partakes in his religion’s ceremonies for social reasons and only if it doesn’t take too much effort; whether they “know there is a God” or not depends on the individual, many are just not going to ponder the question as it would be too much work. An anti-theist OTOH is someone who is convinced that God exists but who specifically goes against what he believes God to be (no, this is not the same as a Satanist).
I know what an atheist is.
I don’t think atheists “sincerely seek God” or “strive by their deeds to do His will”. I’d say Vatican II is pretty official when it come to Roman Catholic doctrine.
The second would depend on what you think God is.
“Too much work”?
What does that mean?
Seems to me atheists/agnostics tend to put a LOT more thought into religion and spiritual matters than most “religious” people.
This is born out by studies:
Anecdotally I have found atheists/agnostics can quote chapter and verse with greater reliability than most self-proclaimed devout Christians.
Imaginary. Unevidenced. Mythical.
Now, is there anything in Vatican II that indicates that atheists can get into heaven?
What “God”?
I wasn’t speaking about real atheists/agnostics in that part, you seem to have missed the qualifier “folk” and the definition.
Haven’t you read the entire thread?
I do not understand the distinction.
Either you do not believe in God or you do making you an atheist or not an atheist.
An atheist who chooses to go to church for social reasons is still an atheist (if a closet one). If they are an atheist then they probably fall into the category of better informed on religious matters than actual believers.
Of course that is all broad brush stuff. There are plenty of exceptions in both groups. This is just an “on average” thing.
Are you saying I missed a post that answered my question? Could you be so kind as to point it out, because I can’t seem to find it.
This entire thread has explained what the Catholic church has to say about atheists getting to Heaven. What was not answered specifically?
Well, not nearly so much under JPII. A lot of us saw great things coming to the Church after 1964, then gave up on it when he showed signs of backsliding.
The reference was to a group of people who, in times and places in which “atheist” was/is a socially unacceptable label and “[X religion]” was/is expected, will label themselves as belonging to X. In times and places in which “atheist” is socially better, that’s what they use. Their beliefs and behaviors don’t change, only the label. If you ask them any specific questions about their supposed beliefs or lack thereof, they’re completely unable to give an answer beyond “eeeh… we-eeeelll…”, and they will give that kind of answer whatever label they happen to use.
That brush is so broad as to be useless. A great many atheists know nothing about religious matters, and often demonstrate it here, where the standards of knowing what the hell you’re talking about is much higher than IRL. But I will agree that the number of believers who understand atheism is depressingly low.
This entire thread hasn’t been an explanation-it’s been a debate, and if you got a specific answer to my question as to the official Catholic position as to whether atheists go to Hell or Heaven, it’s only because you just read the posts that agreed with whatever position you already hold, because I’m not seeing any consensus in this thread. Now, if there is anything from the Vatican that officially updates or changes what came out of Vatican II I hope someone provides a quote or a link, because as it stands now according the section of Vatican II I quoted it looks like the answer is atheists go to hell.
Did he update or change anything when it comes to the specific question as to where atheists go when they die?