Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Solemnity

Feast Day

November 22

The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, was instituted by Pope Pius XI in his encyclical Quas Primas, issued December 11, 1925, at the close of the Holy Year that marked the 1600th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. Pius XI established the feast in response to the rising secularism, atheism, and ideological nationalism of the inter-war period: against political messianisms claiming total allegiance, the Church proclaimed that all human authority is subordinate to the kingship of Jesus Christ.

The encyclical originally assigned the feast to the last Sunday of October, immediately before the Solemnity of All Saints, so that the Church Triumphant in heaven might be seen to follow Christ the King. The 1969 reform of the General Roman Calendar moved the solemnity to its present, more theologically expressive position: the Thirty-Fourth and final Sunday of Ordinary Time, the last Sunday of the liturgical year, immediately before Advent. The Church year that began with the announcement of Christ's first coming thus ends with the proclamation of his eschatological reign. In 1969 the title was also expanded from King to King of the Universe, emphasizing the cosmic scope of Christ's kingship over creation as well as redemption. In 2026, November 22 is the Solemnity, and the Memorial of Saint Cecilia ordinarily kept on this date yields to it.