Pope Francis has died

I genuinely liked him, even as an atheist. He seemed to be trying his best to make the world a better place and I can't fault him for that.

He riled many of his flock and hierarchy when he said that "even atheists can be redeemed". [0]

I will always applaud a person who retreats — even just a little — from dogma and fanaticism.

https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2013/05/29/187009384/...

> He riled many of his flock and hierarchy when he said that "even atheists can be redeemed".

It's quite a bit above our pay grade to proclaim categorically who supposedly cannot be redeemed; it verges on blasphemy.

Cf. Job. 38:

1. Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

2 “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?

3 "Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.

4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.

5 "Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?

6 "On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—

7 "while the morning stars sang together and all the angels[a] shouted for joy?"

(etc.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job%2038&versio...

As an agnostic who spends a lot of time reading scriptures of several religions, trying to grasp the themes and motivations of others I share a world with -- those passages are particularly inscrutable.