Pope Benedict XVI has wished Orthodox Christians a happy Easter.

Orthodox Christians celebrated Easter one week after the Protestant and Catholic Churches as they use a different calendar.

The Pope gave his good wishes to Orthodox Christians during an address on Sunday from the papal holiday retreat, Castel Gandolfo.

In recent years the Catholic Church has been working more towards reconciliation with the Orthodox Church after the two parted ways almost 1,000 years ago in the “Great Schism”.

The Pope also spoke in favour of a United Nations conference being held in Geneva this week against racism and xenophobia. The Pope said that the conference was important as racial discrimination and intolerance are still in the world.

The Pope said all countries should unite in working to end all discrimination and intolerance. A number of countries, such as the USA, Australia and Canada have boycotted the conference fearing that it could be too critical of Israel for its treatment of Palestinians.

The Pope said he hoped conference delegates would work "with a spirit of dialogue and reciprocal acceptance, to put an end to every form of racism, discrimination and intolerance", reports AP.

He also asked pilgrims to "pray for the pope and for the apostolate, for the Church and for its unity".