Cardinal Kurt Koch
Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity
Via della Conciliazione, 5 - 00193 Rome
Email: office@christianunity.va

Office of the Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew
Email: patriarchate.office@gmail.com

URGENT APPEAL to the POPE and to the PATRIARCH for ONE DATE OF EASTER

In this year of our Lord 2026 we, united members of the mystical Body of Christ of eastern and western churches throughout the world, humbly and earnestly appeal to the Roman Pontiff Leo XIV, to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and to all Patriarchs and Bishops throughout the Christian world:

Our appeal is inspired by Popes Saint John Paul II, Francis and Leo XIV. Pope John Paul related that the third Christian millennium will be marked by a millennium of unifications;[1] Pope Francis affirmed that “The Catholic Church is open to accepting the date on which everyone has agreed: a date of unity… a common date for Easter” (Pope Francis, January 25, 2025). And Pope Leo signed a historic Joint Declaration reaffirming their commitment to full communion between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches and added, “We thank Divine Providence that, in this year 2025, the entire Christian world celebrated Easter on the same day. It is our shared and ardent desire that the process of finding a permanent common date for the Feast of Feasts continue” (Pope Leo XIV, 29 November 2025).

More recently on Friday, September 4, in Budapest, at the conclusion of the 27th International Congress of the Society for the Law of the Eastern Churches, Patriarch Bartholomew I called and indeed pleaded for Catholic-Orthodox unity. He stated, “We hope, by the grace and help from on high, for the restoration of full communion with the Church of Rome within the one Body of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.”

Therefore, WE HUMBLY IMPLORE YOU TO PLEASE SIGN A TREATY TO UNITE THE DATES OF EASTER when our divided world cries out for unity. We, as a body of Christian believers throughout the world, have been praying and offering sacrifices for many years for the longed-for day of unity.

And so, we appeal to all of you beloved shepherds and Church leaders to whom we look for spiritual guidance, to be the sign of “hope” by uniting the dates of Easter.