Gregorian calendar Gregorian equivalent of 29 February (Julian), to remember that 29 February is discounted. Thus if the calculated value is −4 the Gregorian equivalent of this date is 24 February. The year used in dates during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire was the consular year, which began on the day when consuls first entered office—probably 1 May before 222 BC, 15 March from 222 BC and 1 January from 153 BC. The Julian calendar, which began in 45 BC, continued to use 1 January as the first day of the new year. Even though the year used for dates
Adoption of the Gregorian calendar old style calendar remains used in religious contexts. Today, the Gregorian calendar is the world's most widely used civil calendar. During and for some time after the change between systems, it has been common to use the terms "Old Style" and "New Style" when giving dates, to indicate which calendar was used to reckon them. The Gregorian calendar was decreed in 1582 by the papal bull "Inter gravissimas" by Pope Gregory XIII, to correct a divergence in the canonical date of the [northern] spring equinox from observed reality (due to an error in the Julian system) that affected the calculation