Articles / Special

An image of Christ the King at the Antipolo Cathedral, Philippines. (Credit : LMP 2001, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons)

In 325, the First Ecumenical Council took place in the city of Nicea in Asia Minor. During that Council, the dogma regarding Christ’s divinity was defined to counteract the Arian heresy: “Christ is God, light from light, true God from true God”. 1600 years later, in 1925, Pope Pius XI proclaimed that the best way to defeat injustice was by acknowledging the kingship of Christ.

The original date this feast was celebrated was the Sunday prior to All Saints Day (the last Sunday of October). But with the liturgical reform of 1969, it was moved to the last Sunday of the liturgical year, thus highlighting that Jesus Christ, the King, is the destination of our earthly pilgrimage.

During the early twentieth century, in Mexico, Russia, and some parts of Europe, militantly secularistic regimes threatened not just the Catholic Church and its faithful but civilization itself. Pope Pius XI’s encyclical gave Catholics hope and—while governments around them crumbled—the assurance that Christ the King shall reign forever.

Christ’s kingship is rooted in the Church’s teaching on the Incarnation. Jesus is fully God and fully man. He is both the divine Lord and the man who suffered and died on the Cross. One person of the Trinity unites himself to human nature and reigns over all creation as the Incarnate Son of God.

Today, religious freedom for many people means that we can believe whatever we want in private, but when we enter the public square or the marketplace, we may not speak of anything that relates to our faith. However, the Church acknowledges the reign of Christ, not only privately, but publicly. This solemnity encourages us to celebrate and live out our faith in public.

- Article by Catholic Time Staff