God is love. God is kind. God is merciful.
So do you really think he would punish an atheist, who never knew Jesus, through no fault of their own?
Of course, if we know Jesus, and reject him, that’s a different story.
God’s love is all those things but it can only accept one end goal and still stay love. Someone who refuses all God’s love to the end because they think it is so wonderful to refuse to countenance the idea of God (how many children are atheists? this is usually a conceit that is schooled into youth) will be left with hate. And that is what hell is. It is a realm of hate. If the approaches to hell that God arranges for such a person within this life are not enough to get the person to call upon God, nothing will be enough. I think they’ll prefer the idea of staying in that place to the idea of ever being in heaven, so enthralled with hate at the God of heaven they will be.
This is a very good question, and one that usually comes up in most conversations about Christ and Salvation.
There are Biblical foundations that must be stated in answer to your question:
The Bible says that we are to spread the Good News (the "Great Commission").
Matthew 28:16-20
1. The only was to be forgiven for our sins and to escape Hell itself is through Christ - John 14:6. When people say they are "saved", what do they mean? Saved from?? Hell. Before I accepted Christ, melted my will to Him, and acknowledged who He is, I knew I was going to Hell. Not long after my conversion, I knew I was going to His Kingdom. (1 John 5:13)
2. From what the Scriptures say, I believe that every person has an opportunity to repent and to come to faith. We are in the "Church Age" - meaning the door is wide open through Jesus Christ. What did the righteous and the heroes of the Old Testament do? Is Isaiah in Hell because Christ had not been born yet? Of course not - Noah and his family were saved by FAITH (Ephesians 2:8), and that is what saves us today, faith in Christ alone, and His Grace is sufficient.
3. You need to read Romans chapter 1 and chapter 2 in their entirety. It is perhaps the greatest statement on doctrine and philosophy ever written. "For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse..." (Romans 1:19–20). Therefore, we know that even gazing out at the sun rise today and seeing a small bird testifies to the Glory of God, and His Creation. Mankind rejects God, every second of every day, despite God making it plain to them. The Law of God is written in the heart of every human being, from the tribe on the Pacific island to the man who is a hardened atheist on Long Island and passes by 14 churches each day on his way to work. "They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them." Romans 2:15
So, we battle Satan and demonic forces that deceive us, and we battle God, but still He holds open the door. I do not believe anyone will be condemned for not hearing about Christ, but they will be condemned for violating the Law and the standard that God imprinted on every human heart. God does not want anyone to perish, but He desires all come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). So when it says in Romans 2:16 that "God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my Gospel" we know that God will give every person a fair hearing, but we never use the excuse that people who never heard of Jesus have a free pass.
That is what the pope told atheists - they have a free pass and they can follow their own conscious.
His statement (and it wasn't "twisted" or "out of context") was the most irresponsible thing I have ever heard a Christian leader say.