Pope Francis has said in a letter to an Italian daily newspaper that non-believers would be forgiven by God if they followed their consciences.
The pontiff was responding to a question from the paper's former editor Eugenio Scalfari, who calls himself an interested non-believer. In the 2,500 word reply published on the front page of La Repubblica he said that God's mercy has no limits, for those with sincere and repentant hearts.
The leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics wrote:
"God's mercy has no limits if we turn to him with a sincere and contrite heart.
"The question for people who do not believe in God is to listen to their consciences. Also for those without faith, sin is going against your conscience.
"Listening to it and obeying it means making up one's mind about what is good and evil. It is time for an open dialogue on faith without any preconceived notions."
Peter Williams from Catholic Voices told Premier's News Hour he's not surprised by the action the Pope took:
The letter was the 76-year-old's reply to questions posed in the newspaper in July and August by Mr Scalfari, who had admitted to not believing in God. Since being elected in March, the Argentine Pope has repeatedly said he wants his words to be heard by faithful from other religions and non-believers.
During a blessing in St Peter's Square in May, Pope Francis said:
"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."
In a separate development the possibility of allowing priests to marry has been highlighted in comments by Italian Archbishop Pietro Parolin.
In what is being viewed as a break with tradition towards reform within the Catholic church, he acknowledged that "modifications" to the law of priestly celibacy might be possible under Pope Francis's reign.
Speaking to the Venezuelan newspaper El Universal, Archbishop Parolin, who is the outgoing Papal Ambassador to the Latin American country, said that as celibacy was a "Church tradition" as opposed to dogma, it could be legitimately discussed. However, Peter Williams doesn't expect change to happen anytime soon:
Archbishop Parolin is the Vatican's incoming Secretary of State and will be seen as the Pope's second in command.