“All power in Heaven and on earth is given to Me,” said Our Lord as He sent His Apostles to subdue all nations under the gentle yoke of His Gospel. This supreme, kingly power is His by both a natural right, as the Son of God made Man, and through an acquired right, by conquest, as our Redeemer – the second Adam – Who won back the human race from captivity to the devil.
Christians have always acknowledged Our Lord as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament foretold His royalty, and He Himself spoke constantly of His Kingdom. It was as a King that He was adored in the manger by the Wise Men of the East, and it was as a King that He mounted the Cross for our Redemption.
Establishing today’s feast in 1925 through his encyclical Quas Primas, Pope Pius IX explained:
“It would be a grave error to say that Christ has no authority whatever in civil affairs, since by virtue of the absolute empire over all creatures committed to Him by the Father, all things are in His power. All men, whether collectively or individually, are under the dominion of Christ. In Him is the salvation of the individual, in Him is the salvation of society.”