The Social Reign Of Christ The King

Pius XI: “Quas Primas”

Father Jean-Luc Lafitte

Introduction 

The dogma of the social reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ King is certainly one of the most important of all Catholic teachings; but nowadays it is one of the most rejected. 

Yet this doctrine is truer and more necessary than ever. 

Archbishop Lefebvre talked to us about it very often; towards the end of his life nearly all of his sermons address this issue. 

The Kingship of our Divine Lord has always been recognised and preached within the Church, but it was formally established as a dogma of the Catholic Faith on December 11th 1925 by Pope Pius XI through his encyclical Quas Primas. 

Through this solemn and infallible act of his magisterium, the Pope instituted the feast of Christ the King: 

“…by Our Apostolic Authority We institute the Feast of the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ to be observed yearly throughout the whole world on the last Sunday of the month of October.” 

Why is Our Lord King? 

Our Lord Jesus Christ is King of the whole universe, and Holy Scriptures proves it to us. When the Holy Family received the Magi, on January 6th, the day of the Epiphany, they offered the Child Jesus three symbolic gifts:

• incense, symbol of prayer: Our Lord is God
• myrrh, used to embalm the dead: Our Lord is Man
• gold, symbol of His royal power: Our Lord is King.

The Magi did see a newborn Infant, but acknowledged in Him a God, a Man, and a King. 

Furthermore, during the Passion of the Lord, the Roman Governor Pilate asked Him: “Are you King of the Jews?”  Jesus answered very clearly: “You said it, I am King.” 

Pope Pius XI explains in Quas Primas that Our Lord is King first of all by nature, because being God, He is the Creator of the whole world. 

“His kingship is founded upon the ineffable hypostatic union.  From this it follows not only that Christ is to be adored by angels and men, but that to Him as man angels and men are subject, and must recognise His empire; by reason of the hypostatic union, Christ has power over all creatures.” 

Since all men have been created by Christ, all, even non-Catholics, have to acknowledge His Kingship and His Divinity: 

“The Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of David His father; and He shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever.  And of his kingdom there shall be no end”

“He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.” 

Our Lord is also King by right of conquest: as our Redeemer, He died on the Cross on Good Friday to redeem us, paying for our Redemption with the shedding of His own Blood: 

“Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled.” 

Therefore we do not belong to ourselves, for Christ has bought us back at a great price: our very bodies are members of Christ. 

“So He is said to reign in the hearts of men, because it is from Him that truth must be obediently received by all mankind.” 

“He reigns, too, in the wills of men, for in Him the human will was perfectly and entirely obedient to the Holy Will of God, and further by His grace and inspiration He so subjects our free-will as to incite us to the most noble endeavours.” 

Finally, He is King of hearts, too, by reason of His charity which “exceedeth all knowledge and His mercy and kindness which draw all men to Him.” 

“Jesus Christ was given to man, not only as our Redeemer, but also as a law-giver, to whom obedience is due; …He claimed judicial power as received from his Father… Executive power, too, belongs to Christ, for all must obey his commands.” 

We find the same teaching in the writings of St Thomas Aquinas: “God is in all things by His power as everything is subject to Him, by His Presence because He sees everything, by His essence because He is the cause of the existence of all things” (Ia, Q8, a3).   Since every person, even non-catholic, exists by the Power, the Presence and the Essence of God, so it follows that every person is obliged to acknowledge Him as King! 

Answers to some objections: 

1.    Our Lord told us that His kingdom wasn’t of this world; therefore He is concerned only with spiritual things, and His Kingdom is only spiritual.  He is King in Heaven and does not need to be acknowledged as such on earth.

Answer: It would be a serious error to say that Christ has no authority on social matters, since, by virtue of the absolute authority He received from His Father over all creatures, all things are subject to His Power. 

2.    Most men have rejected Jesus Christ and His holy Law from their lives.  The social reign of Christ might have been possible in a Catholic society, but it is an impossible dream in our current secular society.  Let’s be realistic!   

Answer: The hope of a lasting peace between people and countries will never shine as long as individuals and states reject obstinately the authority of our Saviour. 

To help restore a lasting peace, there are no more effective means than the restoration of Our Lord’s reign. 

“The Kingship of Our Redemptor does not extend only to Catholic nations, or only to those who, purified by holy Baptism, belong to the Church by right, but it embraces all human beings who do not have the true Christian Faith, so that in all truth the universality of humankind is subjected to the power of Jesus Christ.” 

“In this matter, one should not distinguish between individuals and domestic or civil societies, for men brought together in one society are no less under the power of Christ than individuals are.” 

“Therefore, heads of states should not refuse to pay public homage of respect and obedience to the power of Christ, by themselves and by the people, if they wish to promote and increase the prosperity of their nation and thereby safeguard their authority.” 

“God and Jesus Christ having been excluded from all legislation and public affairs, and authority now deriving its origin not from God any longer but rather from men, the bases of authority themselves have been abolished.  What followed was a complete disturbance of the whole society, deprived of defence and solid support.  The royal dignity of Our Lord demands that the State recognise the Catholic Commandments and Principles.” 

If God isn’t recognised as King of our society, the devil will become its king, with his train of abominations and terror. 

We must choose: the freedom of the children of God, or the enslavement of the devil: “He who is not with Me is against Me.” 

Doctrinal Consequences 

1.                Condemnation of the liberty of conscience. 

If God is King of our intelligences, of our wills and our hearts, He must direct the faculties of our souls. 

Man does not have the rights first and foremost, but duties to fulfill in front of God.  He cannot do whatever he wants, but he must submit to the Divine Will expressed in natural law and the Decalogue.  He cannot think as he likes, nor decide by himself what is true or false: he cannot follow his own conscience but must follow the Divine conscience! 

If man accepts ‘liberty of conscience’, sin exists no longer, since every individual can create his own law and his own commandments. 

A mother could then say: “God said not to kill, but my conscience tells me that abortion is good and acceptable in my case: I can then kill my baby.” 

The social reign of our Lord Jesus Christ requires therefore the condemnation of the liberty of conscience. 

This was done in an infallible way by Pope Pius IX, on December 8th 1864, when he declared in the the Encyclical “Quanta Cura”: 

” …they do not fear to foster that erroneous opinion, most fatal in its effects on the Catholic Church and the salvation of souls, called by Our Predecessor, Gregory XVI, an “Insanity”, viz., that ‘liberty of conscience and worship is each man’s personal right, which ought to be legally proclaimed and that a right resides in the citizens to an absolute liberty, which should be restrained by no authority whether ecclesiastical or civil, whereby they may be able openly and publicly to manifest and declare any of their ideas whatever, either by word of mouth, by the press, or in any other way.’   

But while they rashly affirm this, they do not think and consider that they are preaching a “liberty of perdition!” 

The false doctrine of the liberty of conscience is therefore infallibly condemned, for all times, countries and people, even if that offends Council Vatican II, which explicitly preaches the opposite! 

2.                The Catholic Church and the State must necessarily be united 

The social kingship of our Lord Jesus Christ demands the condemnation of the false doctrine of the separation of Church and State. 

Church and State must be united like body and soul: the soul directs the body in the same manner that the Church must direct the State in all things pertaining to the social reign of Christ.   

As a body separated from its soul is dead, similarly the State separated from the Church becomes a corpse. 

If we accepted the doctrine of the the separation of Church and State, it would follow that God and His Church have no say in laws and public morality matters (even when it comes to abortion, divorce, pornography, homosexuality…). 

Public life and private life would then be totally kept apart: one could think and act as a Catholic in private, but as a pagan in public! 

Our Lord would then be rejected from our society as the Jews rejected the Messiah: “He should die, crucify Him, set Barrabas free!”  This would mean the spiritual death of our country and all its inhabitants. 

Here are two quotes related to this matter coming from the Magister of the Church: 

1.   Pope Pius IX, on December 8th 1864, condemns in “the Syllabus” proposition 55 which states that “The Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church.” 

2.   Pope Pius X, on February 11th 1906, in his encyclical “Vehementer Nos” declares: “That the State must be separated from the Church is a thesis absolutely false, a most pernicious error.  Based, as it is, on the principle that the State must not recognize any religious cult, it is in the first place guilty of a great injustice to God; for the Creator of man is also the Founder of human societies, and preserves their existence as He preserves our own.  We owe Him, therefore, not only a private cult, but a public and social worship to honour Him.” 

Conclusion 

Pope Pius XI gives us the conclusion: “This state of things may perhaps be attributed to a certain slowness and timidity in good people, who are reluctant to engage in conflict or oppose but a weak resistance; thus the enemies of the Church become bolder in their attacks.” 

“But if the faithful were generally to understand that it behooves them ever to fight courageously under the banner of Christ their King, then, fired with apostolic zeal, they would strive to win over to their Lord those hearts that are bitter and estranged from Him, and would valiantly defend his rights.” 

“While nations insult the beloved name of our Redeemer by suppressing all mention of it in their conferences and parliaments, we must all the more loudly proclaim his kingly dignity and power, all the more universally affirm his rights.” 

Truly yours in our Lord Jesus-Christ and His Most Holy Mother. 

Father Jean-Luc Lafitte