Abstract
This paper considers how Christ the King’s feast can be understood as a rejection of the political regimes that were instituted after the Great War (1914-18) in Europe and the Americas. To counter them, Pope Pius XI enunciated that Christ was king of this world and the universe and that for peace to succeed this fact needed to be recognized. Pius XI’s encyclical attempted to institute a political project in which the realm of God was found on this earth, a vision that competed with the new regimes that were established during the interwar period. Christ the King became a political symbol for Catholics to refute political regimes that dogged Catholicism. A year after the institution of “Quas Primas” Mexico became the first country to start a civil war with the symbol of Christ the King as a political project inspired by the Pope’s Encyclical. By the time of Pius XI’s passing in 1939 at the dawn of the Second World War, Catholics in Spain and Belgium would have also attempted to use the image of Christ the King as a symbol of their particular political agenda, which symbolized the kingship of Christ over a world gone awry politically.
Presenters
Alfonso Gómez-RossiTeacher, Education, Instituto Universitario Boulanger/UMIS, Puebla, Mexico
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Christ the King, Cristeros, Catholicism, Political disobedience, Spain, Mexico, Belgium
