From Slave To Pope

How often do we hear the media raking up Pope Benedict's past in order to score points against him?  Too often.  When he was elected the usual suspects and the media homed in on his membership of the Hitler Youth when he was young.  The fact that he was enrolled without his or his parents' consent, and that every other boy in Germany was also enrolled seemed to escape their attention.  I notice when it was revealed that the revered Gunter Grasse joined the Waffen-SS in Germany during the war, the media dropped the discussion about Benedict, no doubt afraid that it would draw attention to Grasse.  The Irish media, however, keep strumming the same harp.

Well today we have the feast of another Pope with a past.  St Callistus started off as a slave, but then, according to traditions, he was supposed to have been a bit of thief, ending up in the clink for his misdemeanors.  Now we have to read his biography with caution because the only contemporary accounts of his life were written by two of his enemies - the anti-pope, Hippolytus of Rome (later reconciled, martyred, and canonised) and the theologian Tertuallian, who strayed after producing some marvellous works (never reconciled). 

In Hippolytus' work we are told that as a slave Callistus was put in charge, by his master, of funds collected for the care of widows and orphans.  It seems Callistus lost the money and fled.  He was caught, but then released on the condition he find the money.  Then then turned to do bit of extortion, and came the heavy on some Jews, either trying to borrow money or collect debts, but ended up in brawl in a synagogue, for which was arrested. When discovered he was Christian, he was sent to the mines in Sardinia.  There, it seems, the experience had a corrective affect on him, and indeed led to a deepening of his faith.  (That is interesting given recent events in Chile - something about the mines!) 

The rest is history.  On his release he is noticed by Pope St Zephyrinus, ordained a deacon, given charge of the catacombs now named after him, and on the martyrdom of St Zephyrinus, elected pope.  As pope he found himself between a rock and a hard place: on one side battling the heretics, and on the other those who did not want to pardon heretics who sought to be reconciled.  He was martyred in 222, supposedly by being thrown down a well.  No easy life.  But we can see the benefit of Callistus' need for mercy and his understanding of those who seek it themselves.  That is a mercy we all need, and it needs to be broadcast too.  One of the problems with the media today is that they rarely show mercy, oftentimes they like to whip up a fury in order to sell newspapers or increase ratings.  This is most problematic when the supposed facts are not facts at all, if they are, they have been taken out of context.  Lessons here for all of us, thanks to Pope St Callistus.

So today, all balanced on the media - one post encouraging, another with suggestions for improvement.  Now, back to that homily on St Therese for tonight.  Say a prayer that all will go well.