Pope expresses willingness to seek unified date for celebrating Easter

Private audience at the Vatican, June 7, 2025. Photo: Vatican Media

Pope Leo XIV has stated that he is ready to continue seeking "an ecumenical solution that would promote the common celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord" among the Christian Churches. He made this statement at the Vatican while addressing participants of an international ecumenical symposium dedicated to the 1700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea.

According to him, the Council of Nicaea serves as a “compass that must continue to guide us towards the full visible unity of Christians” and was “foundational for the common journey that Catholics and Orthodox have undertaken together.”

“The year 2025 represents 'an invaluable opportunity to emphasise that, what we have in common is much stronger, quantitatively and qualitatively, than what divides us,'” he quoted from a document of the International Theological Commission. He added that the shared confession of faith formulated in Nicaea opens new horizons for overcoming remaining theological disagreements and restoring communion.

The Pope emphasized that the establishment of a common date for Easter was one of the goals of the Nicene Council. He believes that the current differences in liturgical calendars no longer allow Christians to celebrate together the most important feast of the liturgical year, “causing pastoral problems within communities, dividing families and weakening the credibility of our witness to the Gospel.”

“I would reaffirm the openness of the Catholic Church to the pursuit of an ecumenical solution favouring a common celebration of the Lord’s resurrection and thus giving greater missionary force to our preaching of the name of Jesus and the salvation born of faith in the saving truth of the Gospel,” the head of the Vatican stated.

As previously reported by the UOJ, Patriarch Bartholomew has earlier expressed hope that Pope Leo would show interest in a unified Easter date.

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