Common Easter date with Orthodox still a long way off – Vatican rep

Apostolic Nuncio Visvaldas Kulbokas. Photo: RBC-Ukraine

The dialogue on the possible introduction of a single date for celebrating Easter for Catholics and Orthodox Christians continues; however, no significant breakthroughs have occurred over the past year. This was stated in an interview with RBC-Ukraine by the Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine, Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas.

He noted that discussions were effectively put on hold due to a number of circumstances, including the health condition of Pope Francis and developments related to changes in Vatican leadership.

“I have not seen any concrete results here. Both the health condition of Pope Francis at the beginning of the year and the process of electing a new Pope paused the process, and time was needed for Pope Leo to enter into this issue,” he said.

According to Kulbokas, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is actively involved in the discussions. He added that Sviatoslav Shevchuk maintains communication both with the Vatican and with the head of the OCU, Epifaniy Dumenko.

At the same time, the nuncio emphasized that the question of a common Easter date remains complex and cannot be resolved hastily. “From what I understand, this is not very easy. It would be wrong to decide such a matter merely on paper, or to force it too strongly,” he stated.

According to the Vatican’s ambassador to Ukraine, participants in the dialogue generally agree that, for a deeper and more balanced decision, this process needs to be given more time.

As previously reported by the UOJ, the Vatican spoke out against banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

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