The Social Reign of Christ the King

10-19-2025Weekly ReflectionFr. Leonard F. Villa

For he (Christ) must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 1 Corinthians 15:25-26

What is meant by the social reign of Christ the King? It means: 1) Christ is God, the Creator of the universe and hence wields a supreme power over all things – “All things were created by Him”; 2) Christ is our Redeemer, He purchased us by His precious Blood and made us His property and possession; 3) Christ is Head of the Church, “holding in all things the primacy” 4) God bestowed upon Christ the nations of the world as His special possession and dominion. The principal doctrine of the "social reign of Christ" means that the construction of human society will not be able to achieve its own natural ends without being ordained to Jesus Christ, Creator, and Savior.

He, as a Creator, has constituted human society based on marriage and family, on reciprocal love and authority. Always as a Creator, the Lord has given society the rules of coexistence, setting in everything its limits. As a Redeemer, the Lord Jesus has re-created for the second time the world after sin and in the end will recap all things in himself, both heaven and earth. Jesus Christ has absolute dominion over history and the world because He is the Alpha and the Omega. Also, Pope Benedict XVI wrote, "A God who has no power is a contradiction in terms." In memory and identity, John Paul II wrote that Christ has a real mission: "He is subjected to all things until He submits to the Father along with everything created for God to be everything in everything."

The doctrine of the social reign of Christ was established and taught by Pius XI in the encyclical Quas bonuses of 1925, but already the previous pontiffs had expressed their meaning, as Leo XIII in the encyclical Immortal Dei. That is why we say that this doctrine belongs to the tradition of the Church and, as such, is also valid today and will always be. The constitution Gaudium et Spes of the Second Vatican Council affirms that "The creature without the Creator disappears" (N. 36). The dogmatic constitution Lumen Gentium says that the laity must "order the temporal affairs according to God." The decree Apostolicam Actuositatem teaches that it is for the laity to "fill in a Christian spirit the thought and the customs, the laws, and the structures of the community in which one lives" (N. 13). All these are undoubted references to the reign of Christ.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church dedicates to this topic especially paragraph 2105, where it reiterates "the royalty of Christ on all creation and, in particular, on human societies". John Paul II enunciated this doctrine from the first moment, in the homily of his first mass as Pope: "Do not fear! Open, even more, open wide the doors to Christ! Open up to his saving power the confines of States, the economic systems and politicians, the vast fields of culture, of civilization and development. Don't be afraid! Christ knows "what is inside man." Only He knows!"

It should not be forgotten that the principle of the reign of Christ is based on the social doctrine of the Church. Benedict XVI said that the need for the new evangelization goes back to the eighteenth century when States wanted to eliminate God from public space. Well, the [modern] social doctrine of the Church begins there, especially with Pope Leo XIII: to put God at the center of the construction of society and politics. This teaching is not obsolete, but is also valid today, so much so that one hundred years later, Pope John Paul II confirms this teaching: "As then, it must be repeated that there is no real solution for the "social question" outside the Gospel" Only the reference to Christ saves society and allows us to identify and pursue the Common Good. And this is nothing other than the doctrine of Christ's social reign.

The social reign of Christ is an expression of the Christian claim to proclaim salvation in Christ., Christ is not only useful, but He is also indispensable. It is said by Benedict XVI: "adherence to the values of Christianity is not only a useful element but indispensable for the construction of a good society and a true integral human development" (N. 4). How could God be only useful and not indispensable? And how could He be indispensable, without expressing royalty over temporal things? That is why the declaration Dignitatis Humanae of Vatican II states that "there is a moral duty of men and societies to the true religion and the only Church of Christ" (N. 1) With Blessed Father Miguel Augustin Pro, S.J. and the Cristeros of Mexico to whom he brought the Sacraments, who uttered the battle cry of "Viva Cristo Rey!” Long Live Christ the King, we must always lift high the banner of Christ the King, remembering these stirring words of Pope Pius XI, contained in Quas Primas, December 11, 1925:

We firmly hope, however, that the feast of the Kingship of Christ, which in future will be yearly observed, may hasten the return of society to our loving Savior. It would be the duty of Catholics to do all they can to bring about this happy result. Many of these, however, have neither the station in society nor the authority which should belong to those who bear the torch of truth. 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. Moreover, the annual and universal celebration of the feast of the Kingship of Christ will draw attention to the evils which anticlericalism has brought upon society in drawing men away from Christ and will also do much to remedy them. While nations insult the beloved name of our Redeemer by suppressing all mention of it in their conferences and parliaments, we must even more loudly proclaim his kingly dignity and power, all the more universally affirm his rights.