Gregorian calendar It also specifies its epact relative to 1 January, in contrast with the Julian calendar, which specified it relative to 22 March. The old date was derived from the Greek system: the earlier "Supputatio Romana" specified it relative to 1 January. During the period between 1582, when the first countries adopted the Gregorian calendar, and 1923, when the last European country adopted it, it was often necessary to indicate the date of some event in both the Julian calendar and in the Gregorian calendar, for example, "10/21 February 1750/51", where the dual year accounts for some countries already beginning their
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