(from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: "In the first") is an

encyclical An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Roman Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop. The word comes from the Late Latin (originally fr ...

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI (; born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, ; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939) was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 until his death in February 1939. He was also the first sovereign of the Vatican City State u ...

. Promulgated on December 11, 1925, it introduced the Feast of Christ the King.

Purpose and content

''Quas primas'' followed Pius's initial encyclical, ''

Ubi arcano Dei consilio ''Ubi arcano Dei consilio'' () was Pius XI's first encyclical. Promulgated 23 December 1922, it is subtitled "On the Peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ". Context Pius XI was elected to the papacy on 6 February 1922. He took as his papal m ...

'', which he referred to in his opening statement:

...manifold evils in the world were due to the fact that the majority of men had thrust Jesus Christ and his holy law out of their lives; that these had no place either in private affairs or in politics: and we said further, that as long as individuals and states refused to submit to the rule of our Savior, there would be no really hopeful prospect of a lasting peace among nations.

In ''Ubi arcano'', Pius enjoined the faithful to seek "the Peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ". ''Quas primas'' established the Feast of Christ the King, which was

's response to the world's increasing secularization and nationalism. It was written in the aftermath of World War I and the

Revolutions of 1917–1923 The revolutions of 1917–1923 were a revolutionary wave that included political unrest and armed revolts around the world inspired by the success of the Russian Revolution and the disorder created by the aftermath of World War I. The uprisings ...

, which saw the fall of the Hohenzollerns,

Romanovs The House of Romanov (also transliterated as Romanoff; , ) was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after Anastasia Romanovna married Ivan the Terrible, the first crowned tsar of all Russia. Nic ...

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

and

Ottomans Ottoman may refer to: * Osman I, historically known in English as "Ottoman I", founder of the Ottoman Empire * Osman II, historically known in English as "Ottoman II" * Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empir ...

. In contrast,

pointed to a king "of whose kingdom there shall be no end". In 1925 the Pope asked the French Dominican priest

Édouard Hugon Édouard Hugon (25 August 1867 – 7 February 1929) was a French Dominican Catholic priest, Thomistic philosopher and theologian trusted and held in high esteem by the Holy See, from 1909 to 1929 was a professor at the ''Pontificium Collegium I ...

, professor of philosophy and theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, ''Angelicum'', to work on ''Quas primas''.Hugon O.P., Édourad. "Fuori della Chiesa non c'è salvezza", Accessed Feb. 6, 2013
/ref> " e Word of God, as consubstantial with the Father, has all things in common with him, and therefore has necessarily supreme and absolute dominion over all things created".Pope Pius XI, ''Quas primas'', §7, Libreria Editrice Vaticana
/ref> In Matthew 28:18 Jesus himself says, "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me." In Revelation 19:16 Christ is recognized as "King of kings and Lord of lords." The encyclical summarised both the

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

and the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

teaching on the kingship of

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

. Invoking an earlier encyclical ''

Annum sacrum ''Annum sacrum'' (English language, English: 'Holy Year') is an encyclical by Pope Leo XIII on the consecration of the whole human race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was delivered in St. Peter's Basilica on 25 May 1899, in the twenty-second y ...

'' of

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...

, Pius XI suggested that the Kingdom of Christ embraces the whole mankind. Pius explained that by virtue of Christ’s claim to kingship as creator and redeemer, societies as well as individuals owe him obligations as king.McCall, Brian M., "Quas Primas and the Economic Ordering of Society for the Social Reign of Christ the King", ''Journal of Catholic Legal Studies'', Vol. 47, January 2008
/ref>

Significance for laity

While the encyclical was addressed to Catholic bishops,

wanted the feast of Christ the King to encourage the

laity In religious organizations, the laity () — individually a layperson, layman or laywoman — consists of all Church membership, members who are not part of the clergy, usually including any non-Ordination, ordained members of religious orders, e ...

Notes

External links

''Quas primas'' (English translation)
{{Authority control Catholic liturgy Encyclicals of Pope Pius XI Christ the King 1925 documents 1925 in Christianity December 1925