Pope Francis Calls Upon Atheists to Join in Quest for Peace

Evan McMurryDec 25th, 2013, 2:04 pm

For his first Christmas on the clock, Pope Francis called upon atheists (OMG he’s talking to us!) to join believers of all faiths and work for a “a homemade peace.”

“I invite even non-believers to desire peace,” Francis said from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to an enthusiastic crowd of 700,000. “Join us with your desire, a desire that widens the heart. Let us all unite, either with prayer or with desire, but everyone, for peace.”

The Pontiff’s inclusion of non-believers is of a piece with his expansive view of the Catholic Church as a more accepting, less rebarbative organization, one that welcomes gays and lesbians and focuses attention on economic inequality.

Denouncing the violence of war, which he said falls disproportionately on the poor, Francis called for “social harmony in South Sudan, where current tensions have already caused numerous victims and are threatening peaceful coexistence in that young state.”

[h/t NYT]

[Image via screengrab]

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