As all Christians prepare to celebrate Easter together in 2025, Pope Francis said the preeminent Christian celebration belongs to Christ and not to earthly calendars or plans. Source: Vatican News.
Pope Francis yesterday met with representatives of the Pasqua Together 2025 Initiative, which represents various lay associations and movements of several Christian confessions.
The Julian and Gregorian calendars align for the celebration of Easter in the Catholic Jubilee Year of 2025, meaning that all Christians will celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection on the same day.
Also in 2025, Christians will commemorate the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, which clarified the divine nature of the Son of God and gave the Church the Nicene Creed.
In his prepared remarks, the Pope encouraged the work of the Pasqua Together initiative, and invited them not to let this unique opportunity “pass by in vain.”
Pope Francis noted that 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,” he said, “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.”
The Pope then pointed out that Easter does not take place by human initiative and is not linked to any one calendar.
“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’,” he said.
Pope Francis urged Christians not to close ourselves in our plans, ideas, calendars, or “our Easter”.
“Easter belongs to Christ!” he noted. “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.”
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Pope Francis: Easter belongs to Christ, not our calendars (By Devin Watkins, Vatican News)
