The idea of setting a fixed data for Easter Sunday has been backed by Pope Francis. Depending upon the lunar calendar, the date for Easter Sunday has moved back and forth for centuries. Easter and the Holy Week, which falls before it is fixed on the first full moon, which is the first Sunday after the spring equinox, March 21.

Pope Francis said during the Second Retreat for Priests in the Basilica of St. John Lateran on June 12 that a consensus has been achieved over a fix date for Easter.

Easter is celebrated by the Orthodox Churches normally a week after the Catholics. Pope Francis jokingly said the some Christians say that Christ rose today, whereas the others say next week.

In order to fix a common date for Easter, Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II wrote to the Vatican Ambassador in Egypt in May. Priests, bishops and cardinals have supported the proposal.

According to historians and experts, a common date will play a significant role in reconciliation between the Christian churches. Historian Lucetta Scaraffia in the Vatican daily newspaper L’Osservatore Romano wrote that setting a common date for Easter Sunday will elevate the importance of the central feast of the faith at the time when so many changes are taking place world over.

Pope Francis will visit Cuba this fall. “Pope Francis never stops talking about mercy. The first Sunday after his election, he mentioned it 13 times. And he just recently called for the celebration of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, which begins on December 8 this year and conclude on November 20, 2016”, the bishops of the island nation said in a June 29 message.