Pope Cornelius (210-253) was the Pope from 251 to 253, succeeding Pope Fabian and preceding Pope Lucius I.
Biography[]
Cornelius was born in 210 to a lowborn family of Romans. In 251 he became the pope after Pope Fabian was executed by Decius, and he had to deal with the problem of forced apostates during the Decian persecution. He believed that Romans that were forced to perform religious sacrifices in front of commissioners could rejoin the church by repenting, while Novatian believed that the only way to rejoin Christianity was through re-baptism. Novatian proclaimed himself antipope, thinking that he would be elected Pope in the 251 elections. In 252, after Decius' murder, the new emperor Trebonianus Gallus had Cornelius exiled to Civitavecchia, where he was martyred in 253.