Easter belongs to Christ, not to people deciding where it falls on a calendar, Pope Francis says.
Determining which is the correct date to celebrate Christ’s Resurrection has been the subject of ecumenical debate for hundreds of years. The Gregorian calendar points to one set of rules, the Julian calendar points to another.
It’s a debate which many – Francis included – would like to end.
“Easter does not take place by our own initiative or by one calendar or another.
“Easter occurred because God ‘so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life’” Francis said during an audience at the Vatican last week.
“Let us not close ourselves within our own ideas, plans, calendars or ‘our’ Easter. Easter belongs to Christ!
“Moreover, it is good for us to ask for the grace to be ever more His disciples, allowing Him to be the one to show us the way we should follow.”
One Resurrection for all
The delegation members Francis was addressing were from the ecumenical “Pasqua Together 2025” initiative. Founded in 2022, Pasqua calls on Orthodox and mainline Christian churches to celebrate Easter on a common date.
In Easter 2025, the Julian and Gregorian calendars happen by astronomical design to align. Pasqua proposes there should be agreement that the universal celebrations planned for next year should continue every year thereafter.
Pope Francis spoke encouragingly to them in support of their initiative, noting he has been asked several times to seek a solution to the issue of multiple dates for Easter.
“I encourage those who are committed to this journey to persevere and to make every effort in the search for a shared agreement, avoiding anything that may instead lead to further divisions among our brothers and sisters.”
Christians should reflect, plan and walk together so that we may bear witness to Christ and that the world may believe, he said.
What’s in a date?
Next year will mark both the Holy Year for the Catholic Church and celebrations of the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.
That Council gave birth to the Nicene Creed, affirmed the full divinity of Christ and set a formula for determining the date of Easter. It was to be the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox.
These days though, we measure time differently from the way we did in 300 AD. The calendar a church uses determines when they’ll be celebrating Easter.
Orthodox churches use the Julian calendar which was in use during the Council of Nicaea.
Mainstream Christian churches use the Gregorian calendar, introduced in 1582 as a more accurate means of keeping time.
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