Pope Victor was the first African pope. He attempted to resolve the ongoing controversy over the celebration of Easter through a great meeting of church members from Rome and Gaul (France) and areas of and around Mesopotamia (Iraq) that Easter should be celebrated on a Sunday instead of on Passover, whichever that day occurred on. The Asia Minor church however, stayed fast to the celebration on Passover. Pope Victor at first declared the congregation in Asia Minor excommunicated but under protest seems to have withdrawn and those members of the church were accepted back into the Church.