Christ the King is a title of Jesus based on several passages of Scripture and used by all Christians. Many denominations, including Catholics, Anglicans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and some Lutherans and Methodists, celebrate, in honour of Christ under this title, the Feast of Christ the King on the last Sunday of the liturgical year, before a new year begins with the First Sunday of Advent, the earliest date of which is 27 November. The Feast of Christ the King is thus on the Sunday that falls between 20 and 26 November inclusive. (However, the Catholic calendar of pre-Vatican II had this feast on the last Sunday of October.) The title "Christ the King" is also frequently used as a name for churches, schools, seminaries and hospitals.
The name is found in various forms in scripture: King Eternal (1 Timothy 1:17), King of Israel (John 1:49), King of the Jews (Mt. 27:11), King of kings (1 Tim 6:15; Rev. 19:16), King of the Ages (Book of Revelation 15:3) and Ruler of the Kings of the Earth (Rev. 1:5).[1]
Insigna of the Vendean insurgents who fought against suppression of the Church in the French Revolution. Note the French words 'Dieu Le Roi' beneath the heart-and-cross, meaning 'God (is) the king'.
The ideological movement of Christ's Kingship was addressed in the encyclical Quas Primas of Pope Pius XI, published in 1925, which has been called "possibly one of the most misunderstood and ignored encyclicals of all time". [2] The Pontiff's encyclical quotes with approval Cyril of Alexandria, noting that Jesus' Kingship is not obtained by violence: "'Christ,' he says, 'has dominion over all creatures, a dominion not seized by violence nor usurped, but his by essence and by nature.'"
Pope Benedict XVI has remarked, that Christ's Kingship is not based on "human power" but on loving and serving others. The prefect exemplar of that acceptance, he pointed out, is the Virgin Mary. Her humble and unconditional acceptance of God's will in her life, the Pope noted, was the reason that "God exalted her over all other creatures, and Christ crowned her Queen of heaven and earth." [3]
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