The Last Sunday of October: The Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King

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Excellent Bulletin from the Sorrowful Heart of Mary Oratory for the Feast of Christ the King!

Excerpts:

Feast of Christ the King

It would be a grave error to say that Christ has no authority whatever in civil affairs. As long as individuals and states refuse to submit to the rule of our Savior, there would be really no hopeful prospect of a lasting peace among nations. - P.P Pius XI, Quas Primas


Against what specific evils of our time is the establishment of this feast mainly directed?

• The denial of Christ’s authority to rule all nations
  
• The denial of the right of the Church to teach the human race, to make laws, to rule over peoples unto their eternal salvation
  
• The putting of the religion of Christ on a footing with false religions
  
• The putting of the religion of Christ under civil authority
  
• The setting up of a natural religion in place of the Divine religion
  

Impiety and neglect of God, with their attendant evils of enmities and rivalries between nations, of insatiable greed masquerading as public spirit and patriotism, of discord and division between citizens, of blind unrestrained self-love, which makes private gain and private advantage its one aim and universal standard, of unhappiness in homes through neglect of domestic responsibilities, of the loss of stability in family life - all leading to the total destruction of human society


What, in brief, is the object of the feast?
To stamp out the plague of anti-clericalism and secularism which infests modern society, to bring men to acknowledge and to vindicate the rights of Christ over individuals and over peoples and thus establish “the peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ”.


Why is a Sunday chosen for the feast?
In order that not only may the clergy perform their duty by saying Mass and reciting the Office, but that the laity, too, free from their daily occupations, may in a spirit of holy joy give ample testimony of their obedience and subjection to Christ.


Why is the last Sunday of October chosen?
Because it occurs towards the close of the liturgical year, and thus the feast of the Kingship of Christ becomes a fitting completion and consummation of the mysteries of the life of Christ already commemorated during the year, and before celebrating the triumph of All the Saints we proclaim and extol the glory of Him who triumphs in all the saints and in all the elect. - Rev. M. S. Canon McMahon, 1930

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He Must Reign, But They Have Uncrowned Him

Following the principles set forth from the Second Vatican Council on religious liberty, today’s leaders of the Church reject the traditional teaching on Our Lord’s Social Kingship. They say that now we have a plurality of religions, so we can no longer request States to recognize the Catholic Church as the only true religion; that now, we must deal with this very pragmatically. In the exchange below, Archbishop Lefebvre was told by the Nuncio of Switzerland (while in the presence of Pope John Paul II) that Pope Pius XI would no longer write his encyclical on Christ the King today. That now, the times are different; the State is different; and the Holy Father agreed with him! For these Modernists, the Church's traditional teaching on Christ's Kingship is a thing of the past, a threatening principle that is in direct opposition to the globalist agenda for a pluralistic society. They simply do not want Christ as King and their new conciliar religion has uncrowned Him.

The Apostolic Nuncio of Switzerland: "You understand, the Social Kingship of Our Lord - that is impossible now, perhaps in the distant future? Right now, this Reign is in individuals; we have to open ourselves up to the masses … It is very difficult now."

Archbishop Lefebvre: “You see - he no longer believes in it: It is an 'impossible' or a 'very difficult' dogma, 'which now would not be written anymore!' And how many people think like this today! How many are incapable of understanding that the Redemption of Our Lord Jesus Christ must be brought about with the help of civil society; and that the State therefore must become, within the limits of the temporal order, the instrument of the application on the work of Redemption. They answer you: "Oh, those are two different things; you are mixing politics and religion!" - "They Have Uncrowned Him"

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Such departure from the perennial Catholic understanding of Christ's Kingship on the Nuncio’s part is indicative of the revolutionary mindset that hijacked Church teaching at the Second Vatican Council, which during its third session, tragically witnessed Pope Paul VI even surrendering his Papal Tiara; the quintessential symbol of the union of his spiritual and temporal powers, to placate those who objected to his munus regendi (the duty of the Pope to shepherd, based on Christ's role as King). This public gesture speaks more loudly than words.

For, it gave the impression that he was renouncing his sovereignty not only over the Church but also over earthly kings and queens (the State); while at the same time allowing the progressivists at the Council who challenged the doctrine on papal supremacy to believe that their subversive ideas would one day be legitimately approved by the Church. And so, it transpired that all of Paul VI's successors on the throne of Peter from then on to this day refused to wear the Triple Crown, which is now disdainfully held in contempt, tucked away in the Vatican Museum.

As a symbol of the rightful exaltation of the Church, the Tiara points not to only the person of the Pope, but to his office and beyond that to the One Who founded the Church, whom he represents. This symbol of royalty was seen in Tradition as a visual aid for the mind to assimilate the transcendent truth of Our Lord's Kingship exercised by His Vicar on earth.

But during the Council, so-called theological experts (periti) such as Bishop Karol Wojtyła (Pope John Paul II) and Fr. Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) led the way in condemning the Tiara as a symbol of "dangerous triumphalism" and antiquated doctrine.

As Pope Benedict, Ratizinger continued this contempt that he held as a young revolutionary firebrand, acting under the auspices of Cardinal Frings who was President of the German Bishops’ Conference and a strong opponent of Roman centralism (the doctrine of papal primacy). According to Fr. Ratzinger, the symbolism of the Tiara would jeopardize the success of two key progressivist errors that both he and Frings wished to promote at the Council, and which go hand-in-hand: Collegiality and Ecumenism.

Nevertheless, the Church has consistently condemned these liberal ideals which in the name of a false religious liberty demand acceptance of the separation of Church and State; and the Marxist concept of collegiality which degrades the office of the Supreme Pontiff by placing him on the same level as just another bishop among bishops.

The instinctive sensus catholicus alarms proved accurate, for it's clear that the subversive tactics used to achieve the Council's “Declaration on Religious Liberty” (Dignitatis Humanae) were explicitly done to suppress the traditional papal teaching on the social reign of Christ the King. With this promulgation, the doctrine that all rulers and statesmen have an obligation to give public honor and obedience to Christ was abolished. This perennial teaching of the traditional Magisterium was overthrown in order to open the Church to the revolutionary values of the modern world. We are living in the aftermath.

Now, thanks to this novel, heterodox teaching, very few Catholics today would even think of rallying behind the banner of Christ the King. Such loyalty to the one-true Faith is taught by progressivists as completely unacceptable, and that any display of papal supremacy – spiritual or temporal – is now an outdated notion regarded as a “dangerous” hinderance to global unity, or as an "impossible" and "very difficult" principle by the world’s standards.

Yet, these are the principles of treason to Christ the King. They are the ideals of traitors who directly contradict the perennial Church teaching of Quas Primas; the very same apostolic doctrine which inspired generations of Catholic faithful to defend the Church at all costs. So bravely portrayed in the cruel martyrdoms of English Recusants in the Tudor/Elizabethan Terror; or in the courageous Catholic and Royal Army of insurgents in the Vendée French Resistance; or in the fidelity of Fr. Miguel Pro and so many of his fellow Cristeros. May God grant us all the grace to follow their heroic example. - adapted & edited: Born of Revolution, Vol 2; Dr. C. Byrne


Related: The First Liturgical Breach of Christ's Social Kingship: https://www.traditioninaction.org/HotTop...gue_43.htm and continued Here