Christ the King
Posted on Nov 18, 2025 by Pastor Jealaine Marple
You may know that this Sunday we will celebrate the feast day of Christ the King. This is the end of our liturgical year as we transition into Advent. But did you know that Christ the King, as a feast day, is still young? Pope Pius XI declared it become a feast day in 1925. Yes, it turns 100 this year! I wanted to give you a little bit of history behind this feast day, as it is still relevant today.
Let’s start with world history. Here are some major (in my opinion) events that occurred in 1925: January 3, Benito Mussolini declared himself dictator of Italy; March 21, teaching evolution was outlawed in Tennessee (this would later become the basis for the Scopes “Monkey” Trial); July 18, Mein Kampf was published, which became the blueprint for Nazi ideology; August 8, the Ku Klux Klan held their first march (it took place in Washington, D.C.); November 5, the Socialist parties disbanded in Italy; and on November 9, the Schutzstaffel (SS), the elite paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party, was formed. The pope wrote this declaration for Christ the King on December 11, 1925. World War II was a mere 14 years away. But it was obvious that the pope was seeing that the world wasn’t the way God intended.
Pope Pius XI laid out a 34-point essay to make the argument for instituting Christ the King as a feast day. CLICK HERE to read the whole thing if you’re interested. Many of his arguments, however, could come from a concern regarding a rise in fascism. Fascism is another term that seems to be thrown around a lot these days. The proper definition is “a populist political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual, that is associated with a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, and that is characterized by severe economic and social regimentation and by forcible suppression of opposition” (Merriam-Webster).
One of my favorite points Pope Pius XI makes is “if, therefore, the rulers of nations wish to preserve their authority, to promote and increase the prosperity of their countries, they will not neglect the public duty of reverence and obedience to the rule of Christ.”
It is important to love our country, to serve our country, and to respect our leaders by holding them to a high standard. However, our obedience is to Christ. And what would Christ have us do? It’s pretty easy to go back to scripture on this: We should love the Lord our God with all our hearts, minds, and souls AND love our neighbor as ourselves. We should want for our neighbors what we desire for ourselves.
Pope Pius XI continues by saying “… and at the same time provide an excellent remedy for the plague which now infects society. We refer to the plague of anti-clericalism, its errors and impious activities. This evil spirit, as you are well aware … has not come into being in one day; it has long lurked beneath the surface. … the seeds of discord sown far and wide; those bitter enmities and rivalries between nations, which still hinder so much the cause of peace; that insatiable greed which is so often hidden under a pretense of public spirit and patriotism, and gives rise to so many private quarrels; a blind and immoderate selfishness, making [people] seek nothing but their own comfort and advantage.” I fear, beloved of Salem, that this discord isn’t new and can still find places of prevalence in our current society.
It seems that the celebrating the feast day of Christ the King is just as important today as it was 100 years ago. To say that Christ is King is to know that nothing else in our life is or can be king or ruler. To proclaim Christ is King means that we demand more of ourselves and our fellow citizens that claim a baptismal identity to provide for those whom Christ would favor. We are called to a specific kind of citizenship in the kingdom of God: one that calls us to proclaim that we have no king other than Christ. There is no reign other than that of Christ. Our loyalty is to the lost, the least, the hungry, the poor in body, mind, or spirit, and the outcast. Power looks like the cross, not a crown.
Peace,
Pastor J