Pope Leo XIV: Catholic Church Open to Universal Date for Easter Celebration

Pope Leo xiv announced on June 7 that the Roman Catholic Church is open to establishing a universal date for Easter to be celebrated among all Christian churches.

Speaking to participants of the symposium “Nicaea and the Church of the Third Millennium: Towards Catholic-Orthodox Unity,” the pope emphasized that what unites Christians is far greater than what divides them. He pointed people back to the Council of Nicaea, called by Emperor Constantine in a.d. 325 to create a state-sponsored form of Christianity.

Common date: In addition to formalizing the Catholic doctrine of the trinity, the Council of Nicaea also decided that Easter should be observed on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the ecclesiastical equinox on March 21.

But after Pope Gregory xiii introduced a new, more astronomically accurate calendar to the Roman Catholic world, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians began keeping Easter on different days. Both groups followed the decision made at Nicaea, but they no longer agreed on when March 21 happened.

Last year, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople stated that he believes the Catholic and Orthodox churches should be able to resolve this dilemma by consulting astronomical experts. Pope Leo reaffirmed “the openness of the Catholic Church to the pursuit of an ecumenical solution favoring a common celebration of the Lord’s resurrection,” showing his willingness to continue negotiations on this topic.

Catholic unity: For over 40 years, Plain Truth editor in chief Herbert W. Armstrong forecast the Catholic Church would pull Protestants and Orthodox back under its dominion.

The mighty problem of achieving unity is twofold. First, it involves reconciliation of the Orthodox Schism that officially commenced in 1054 and divided the churches in the East—Greece, Russia, the Balkans, and the Near East—from Rome. Second, it involves the restoration to the Roman Communion all Protestantism, which developed from 1517 onward.
—Plain Truth, November 1963

This prediction was based on Isaiah 47, which describes a church called “the lady of kingdoms” that has power over nations. This church has protesting churches that have split away from it. Isaiah states these protesting daughters will be brought back under the mother church’s control. A universal date for Easter would be a step in this direction.

Learn more: Read “Returning to the Fold.”