Oh, yea......all paths lead to God or whatever.
“He’s already told atheists to live according to their conscience and they’ll be just fine.”
That was the spin the media put on it. He didn’t really say it that way. The problem is this Pope makes vague statements that can be interpreted many different ways. To your point though I would not rule out anything. Does anyone really know how liberal (or not) this Pope is? It’s a guessing game.
He was definitely wrong about that. As with every part of a human, the conscience, too, is fallen, even though God can use it to good effect. Romans 1&2.
balance its divisive rules about abortion, gays and contraception with the greater need to make it a merciful, more welcoming place for all
The problem with this statement by the pope is its ambiguity. If he means, "Don't be the Revelation church of Ephesus.", then I'll wait for clarification from him. That would mean to me that he's saying, "Reject the sin, but love the sinner." I have no problem with that formulation.
If he's saying, however: "Ignore sin; go along to get along.", then I would say that he's pushing the church toward Pergamum & Thyatira by way of Laodicea.
Better to be a biblical Christian, and then we don't have to await some man clarifying his meaning. As a biblical Christian we are to "work out (our) own salvation with fear and trembling."