Pope Pontian
Pope · Italy · Religious Figures · Died 235
Pope Pontian is read about 192 times a day, in 78 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 15 October 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 390 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?He was the first pope to resign - a choice made not from scandal or weakness, but from a prison island, to keep the Church from fracturing while he waited to die.
A life in dates
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About this person
Pontian became bishop of Rome on 21 July 230, leading a community still nursing an eighteen-year schism. Five years later, Emperor Maximinus Thrax began his persecution and Pontian was arrested, exiled to Sardinia - a death sentence dressed as exile. On 28 September 235, from that island, he abdicated, ensuring the Church could elect a successor without the paralysis of an absent, captive pope. The schism ended with his resignation. Some accounts say he was beaten to death within weeks of arrival. Both Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions venerate him as a saint.
Religious Figures from Italy 6
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