The pope’s comments on atheists, saying that atheists should be seen as good people as long as they do good, was a move to urge people of all religions – or no religion at all – to get along.

The widely publicized comments delivered by Pope Francis sparked debate and not surprisingl prompted a GIF reaction from social media site, Reddit, featuring the iconic actor, Robert Redford.

The Reaction Gif posted by Reddit user, BoonTobias, features the actor in a scene from "Jeremiah Johnson" nodding in a dramatic close-up. The title of the thread is “When I heard the Pope proclaim atheists and other religion followers redeemed.” The humorous Reddit gif garnered 702 up votes and 136 down votes.

The news of the pope’s comments was also the second-most shared news item on the site.

The leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics made his comments in the homily of his morning mass at his residence, which was a daily event where he speaks without prepared sermon notes.

“Even them, everyone,” the pope said, “We all have the duty to do good,” reports the Vatican Radio.

He said that atheists who do good are redeemed. In his sermon, the pope said:

"The Lord created us in His image and likeness, and we are the image of the Lord, and He does good and all of us have this commandment at heart: do good and do not do evil. All of us. ‘But, Father, this is not Catholic! He cannot do good.’ Yes, he can... "The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone!".. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there.”

Pope Francis’s reaching out to atheists and people who belong to no religion is a marked contrast to the attitude of former Pope Benedict, according to Reuters.

Some of the former pope’s comments has left non-Catholics feeling that they are seen by Pope Benedict as second-class believers.