Francis: 'For God, no one is definitively lost. Never!'

[Lucretius]

:flawedunderstandingalert:

This seems to contradict the understanding that God, being eternal, knows the end from the beginning, and therefore already knows who is lost, based on his foreknowledge of the choices that each individual will make, and his foreknowledge of what the status of each individual’s soul will be at the moment of death.

:/flawedunderstandingalert:

Bishop Fulton Sheen says that we should not only listen to what people say, but why they say it. I think the Holy Father’s intentions are to comfort the despairing, who tend to become fatalistic, and instruct the faithful that even the most unrepentant sinner can repent, reminding them that God can save anyone, regardless of their wealth, moral status, etc.

To put it another way, I don’t think the Holy Father is trying to make a major theological point with his words as much as to empower the weak and despair.

Christi pax,

Lucretius