The Last Sunday after Pentecost; The Reign of Christ; 20 November 2022; Proper 29C (RCL); Jeremiah 23:1-6; Canticle 16: Colossians 1:11-20; Luke 23:33-43.
Pope Pius XI instituted the feast of Christ the King in 1925 in response to the growing secularism and ultranationalism in Europe at the time, and also as a response to the unification of Italy and the looming loss of his hegemony over the Papal States. The Feast was to serve as a reminder that all Christians acknowledge Christ as their monarch. We can also perhaps see in it a cynical claim against the Kingdom of Italy for the pope’s rule over the Papal States. In subsequent years, though, we can read it as a check against totalitarianism, as it relativizes (at least for Christians) all human claims of power.
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