Feast of Christ The King of the Universe

 Today (November 23, 2025 The Catholic Church marks, "The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe," a feast in the liturgical year which emphasises and reminds us of the TRUE kingship of Christ.

It is celebrated in The Catholic Church, where it originated, and also in the Lutheran, Anglican, Moravian, Methodist, Nazarene, some Reformed and United Protestant churches, where it known by various names such as Feast of Christ the King, Christ the King Sunday or Reign of Christ Sunday.
After the upheavals resulting from the First World War and the collapse of all four major monarchies in mainland Europe, a response was needed to counter the growth of negative cultural changes, such as:
- Atheism
- Socialist movements like communism
- Rising ultra-nationalism
- Globalism
- Godless secularism
These all followed on the heels of the Great War, and it was obvious that people needed to be reminded just who is REALLY the ultimate ruler of the world.
In the Catholic Church, it was instituted by Pope Pius XI to crown the Jubille Year of 1925 ... and so, 2025 - itself a Jubilee Year - marks the centennial of this observance.
St. Cyril of Alexandria (376AD-444AD) made clear from his distant time what has *always* been known, i.e., that Christ.... "has dominion over all creatures, a dominion not seized by violence nor usurped, but by His essence and by nature. His kingship is founded upon the hypostatic union [of God and Himself].
From this it follows not only that Christ is to be adored by angels and men, but that to Him as God-made-man, angels and men are subject, and must recognize his empire; by reason of the hypostatic union Christ has power over all creatures."
The Feast of Christ the King also has a profound eschatological * dimension. Not only does it terminate the progression of the liturgical year, but it points to the end of time, itself, when the Kingdom of God through Jesus Christ will be established in all its fullness to the ends of the earth.
* (eschatoligical = end times)
In 1969, Pope Paul VI issued the letter, "Mysterii Paschalis" (Paschal Mysteries) which amended the orginal title of Feast of Christ The King, to - "Domini Nostri Iesu Christi universorum Regis" (Our Lord Jesus Christ King of the Universe).
In 1970, it was also moved to the last Sunday of the liturgical year. This choice of date was deliberately chosen so that, "...the eschatological importance of this Sunday is made clearer"
The feast was then assigned the highest rank among Church commeorations, that of SOLEMNITY.
The liturgical vestments for the day are white.
Christians spend the entire year contemplating and giving thanks for God's saving mercy and grace through Christ, and ending the year acknowledging Our Lords Kingship over all is an approriate and divinely culminating moment.
Peace be with you!
(Illustration of "Christ in Majesty" from the Ghent Altarpiece, by Hubert and Jan van Eyck [AD 1427])

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