Auxiliary Bishop William Hanna Shomali of Jerusalem of the Latins hoped also for the unification of holidays. He proposed to take it another step further and establish a shared Lent and mutual observance of abstinence and fasting. This additional unification would be "a positive sign for Christians and also for non-Christians," he said.
Speaking with journalists at the Holy See's Press Office on Oct. 19, Franciscan priest and protector of the Holy Land, Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, said the issue of shared holidays is a "very pastoral and concrete problem" that changes from place to place.
With mixed Catholic-Orthodox marriages among 80 percent of the married population of the area, he said, the separate holiday make things difficult for many. "No one" is interested in the two Easters, he said, noting that some countries have established shared dates. However, he noted, at least in Jerusalem, it is still "a problem that has no easy solution."
It is because of the situation in the city, where "all of the fears ... and the weight of the past come out and become concrete. Until there is a truly serene relationship of the single churches, all the way through," he said, "it will be hard for Jerusalem also to achieve this spirit."
Coptic Patriarch Antonios Naguib of Alexandria, Egypt, the "house speaker" of the synod said in his report at the synod's midpoint that it is "a pastoral necessity, given the pluralistic context of the region, and the many mixed marriages between Christians of different ecclesial denominations." He also asked how this "powerful witness of communion" might be accomplished.
Forty-four proposals have been drafted from synod discussion topics and include the call for greater communion between Christians in the region. Among other initiatives for cooperation, there is the invitation to work towards common dates for Christmas and Easter.
The Holy Father will examine all of the results of the Synod and eventually make a declaration, in the form of an apostolic exhortation, on his findings. In the message or the apostolic exhortation, it remains to be seen if a statement concerning common holidays will also be included in which he implores compromise for greater union.