00:00Imagine a Roman slave who becomes pope.
00:03This is the incredible story of Calixtus I.
00:07Born into servitude, he was freed, then became a financial manager for a wealthy Christian.
00:12But the deal goes wrong, the funds disappear.
00:15He fled, was caught, and was condemned to the terrible mines of Sardinia, a hell for Christians of that time.
00:22However, Providence intervenes.
00:25Once freed, he returned to Rome and Pope Zephyrinus, recognizing his intelligence and organizational skills, took him under his wing.
00:33under his wing.
00:34He appointed him deacon and entrusted him with the management of Christian necropolises.
00:39these famous catacombs which still bear his name today, the catacombs of Calixtus.
00:45In 217, Callixtus became the 16th pope.
00:50His pontificate will revolutionize the church.
00:52At the time, the Roman Catholic Church was very strict.
00:55If you committed a serious sin, adultery, murder, it meant excommunication, the final exit.
01:04Calixte, perhaps remembering his own trials, said "stop".
01:08He proclaims that the church, in the name of Christ, has the power to forgive all sins, even the most
01:15heavy,
01:16provided that there is genuine repentance and penance.
01:19It was revolutionary.
01:22This decision has outraged purists.
01:25Hippolytus, his great rival, calls him lax and a heretic.
01:29and even provokes a schism, getting himself elected as an antipope.
01:33For him, the church should be an assembly of saints.
01:37Calixte, on the other hand, saw it as a hospital for sinners.
01:40a place of reconciliation and mercy.
01:43Even Tertullian, a great theologian, protested against this leniency.
01:50Calixte goes further.
01:52He permits marriages between free women and Christian slaves.
01:56defying Roman laws to assert equality before God.
01:59He also clarifies the doctrine of the Trinity,
02:03navigating between the pitfalls to preserve the unity of God and the divinity of the Son.
02:08He died a martyr around 222.
02:11thrown from a window in the Trastevere district,
02:14during an anti-Christian riot.
02:17Today, we remember Callixtus I as a pioneering pope.
02:22He opened the doors of universal mercy,
02:25laying the foundations of what the church is today,
02:29a community where everyone, despite their weaknesses,
02:32can find forgiveness and reconciliation.
02:35He affirmed the power of the Bishop of Rome throughout the church.
02:40and its power to bind and loose.
02:43Thanks to Calixte, the church is no longer a closed club.
02:46but an open family,
02:48ready to welcome with open arms
02:50all those who seek the light,
02:52even after they have fallen.
02:56Callixtus I
