St Callistus I: Through The Door of Mercy

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hat would you do if someone committed a grave sin? Pope St Callistus I, who reigned in the early third century, chose mercy. He readily embraced back into the Church grave offenders who repented—a move that scandalized many. His decision caused a long-lasting controversy, even a schism led by Hippolytus, who became the first antipope. For nearly two decades, the Church wrestled with this division, all because Callistus emphasized God’s mercy, charity, and compassion.

At the time, the Church was torn between two camps. The rigorists held that those guilty of grave sins such as adultery or apostasy were forever separated from the true Church. Callistus, however, decreed that sinners could be readmitted to communion if they repented and did penance.

What moved him to take such a daring and scandalous step? I see in him three holy desires.

First, Callistus grounded his decision in Christ’s words to Peter—the authority “to bind and to loose.” Tertullian and Hippolytus objected, claiming this power was given to Peter alone and could not be passed on. They accused Callistus of inventing new doctrine and being too lenient. Yet, the deeper issue was about how divine mercy should be applied in the life of the Church. The tension between Callistus and Hippolytus echoes the early debate between Peter and Paul over whether Gentiles should first adopt Jewish customs before baptism. In both cases, the resolution came through the example of Jesus himself—the friend of sinners who sat at table with outcasts. For Callistus, this image of Christ was the true measure of orthodoxy.

Second, Callistus acted out of the very desire of Christ, the face of the Father’s mercy. Every pastor, not only the pope, is called to be configured to this merciful Christ. Pope Francis captured this same vision in Misericordiae Vultus (The Face of Mercy), when he proclaimed the Jubilee of Mercy in 2015:

“When faced with the gravity of sin, God responds with the fullness of mercy. Mercy will always be greater than any sin, and no one can place limits on the love of God.”

For Callistus, opening the way for sinners to return was opening the Door of Mercy long before such jubilees were declared. He saw clearly that God’s mercy is not a reward for the perfect but a lifeline for the fallen.

Third, Callistus could proclaim mercy because he had received it himself. Before becoming pope, he was a slave entrusted by his master to manage a bank. When it failed, he was blamed, beaten, and reduced to hard labor in Rome. Later, he was imprisoned and sent to the mines during the persecution of Christians. He knew suffering, humiliation, and helplessness. But he also knew what it meant to be forgiven and freed by the mercy of others. Like Pope Francis’s motto Miserando atque Eligendo—“Lowly but chosen”—Callistus recognized that God’s call is always intertwined with mercy.

Callistus’s early failures became the soil of compassion in his heart. Having nothing to lose, he used his papacy not to preserve prestige or power but to defend the outcasts and sinners. He learned that true wealth lies not in possessions but in being “rich toward God” (Lk 12:21). Those who have experienced poverty—material or spiritual—understand most deeply the value of mercy. Such people, like Callistus, become generous channels of God’s grace.

Ironically, Hippolytus, who once opposed him fiercely, met a similar fate. He too was condemned to the mines of Sardinia, where he shared imprisonment with Pope Pontian. There, suffering stripped him of his pride, and he was reconciled to the Church. Both he and Pontian would die as martyrs and be honored as saints. The Church eventually canonized all three—Callistus, Hippolytus, and Pontian—who had once stood on opposite sides of mercy.

Their lives teach that no one is beyond redemption. Even the harshest critics can become apostles of compassion once they have tasted it themselves.

God’s mercy is the great leveler: it humbles the proud, raises the fallen, and restores communion. Saint Callistus I, a slave turned pope, a sinner turned shepherd, dared to open the Door of Mercy for others because he had first walked through it himself. Amen. Fr JM Manzano SJ