DHAKA: Pope Francis on Wednesday said atheists could take moral decisions just like religious people, in an unprecedented letter to a leftwing Italian daily, his latest attempt to reach out to non-believers.

‘God’s mercy has no limits if we turn to him with a sincere and contrite heart,’ the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics said in a missive published in La Repubblica by its founder Eugenio Scalfari.

‘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,’ he said.

‘Listening to it and obeying it means making up one`s mind about what is good and evil,’ he added, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 2004 HRS, SEPT 11, 2013
RoR/RIS