In comments likely to enhance his progressive reputation, Pope Francis has written a long, open letter to the founder of La Repubblica newspaper, Eugenio Scalfari, stating that non-believers would be forgiven by God if they followed their consciences.
You posted: “Pope Francis has written a ...letter ...stating that non-believers would be forgiven by God if they followed their consciences.”
Now back to the headline:
“You don’t have to believe in God to go to heaven”
“Forgiven” and “Go to heaven” are not synonymous. If they were synonymous, then we would be told the sinful woman (Luke 7:48) would have suddenly left the earth and gone to heaven or the paralytic man would instantly have gone to heaven (Matthew 9:1-7) BUT that IS NOT what we are told.
Here are a couple of passages which show that forgiveness and salvation are not equivalent: Psalm 103:12, Mark 2:5, Luke 23:43, Mark 1:4 (coupled that with Acts 19:3-4).