Leo XIV’s letter to an atheist in search of God

TIZIANA FABI | TIZIANA FABI

Camille Dalmas - published on 02/26/26

“He who loves God, he who seeks Him with a sincere heart, cannot be an atheist”: This is Leo XIV’s message in a letter to an atheist, published on February 24.

Since February 22, Pope Leo XIV has been participating in the traditional Lenten retreat at the Vatican with the main leaders of the Curia. It’s a time of silence, meditation, and introspection during which the Pope withdraws from public and media life. On Tuesday, February 24, however, Piazza San Pietro, the monthly magazine of St. Peter's Basilica, published a brief correspondence from Leo XIV in which he responds to a letter from a man named Rocco.

Rocco had sent him a poem titled “An atheist who loves God.” In it, the Italian acknowledges that he “believes that he does not believe,” but explains that he wonders about “the mystery of harmony” in this world and feels a certain “anxiety” at not being able to find God in his life.

In his reply, Leo XIV thanks Rocco for his letter and explains that his poem reminded him of a sentence from St. Augustine's Confessions: “You were within me, but I was outside myself, and there I sought you!”

“These words are enough to tell you that whoever loves God, whoever seeks him with a sincere heart, cannot be an atheist,” the Pope explains.

For Leo XIV, the “real problem of faith” isn’t actually “believing or not believing,” but rather distinguishing “between seekers and non-seekers of God.” God, he assures his correspondent, “allows himself to be found by the heart that seeks Him.”

“Someone can believe that they believe, without seeking the face of God, without loving him,” warns Leo XIV. And in the same way, he explains, “someone can believe that they don’t believe, and yet be an ardent seeker of his face.”

"You see, Rocco, we all long for Love, we are all seekers of God. And in this resides the dignity and beauty of our life," Leo XIV concludes.