“One cannot be an atheist who loves God, who seeks Him with a sincere heart.” This is how Pope Leo XIV, quoting St. Augustine, responded to Rocco of Reggio Calabria, who sent a letter to the magazine  Piazza San Pietro , published by the Vatican Basilica. In the February issue, the Pope expresses his gratitude for Rocco’s poem, in which he asks for guidance and questions whether it is possible to define oneself as an atheist and at the same time love God.

Finding God within oneself

“I think I don’t believe, absolutely certain of nothingness, I continue to yearn for God. My drama – Rocco adds in his poetry – is God! My restlessness is God!”

“What you say,” the Pope replied, “immediately reminds me of what my beloved father St. Augustine wrote in his  Confessions : ‘You were within me, and I was outside. And there I sought you.’” A quote that highlights how the search for God is a profound desire.

The dignity of human life lies in seeking its face

“The real problem of faith,” continues Leo XIV, “is not believing or not believing in God, but seeking him! He allows himself to be found by the heart that seeks him, and perhaps the appropriate distinction is not so much between believers and non-believers, but between seekers and non-seekers of God.”

The Holy Father adds that one can think oneself to be a believer without seeking the face of God and, therefore, without loving Him; on the contrary, one can be convinced of not believing and yet “be ardent seekers of His face, love Him – he concludes, addressing Rocco – as you do.  We are all longing for Love, seekers of God . And therein lies the dignity and beauty of our lives.”