SOLEMNITY

Pope Pius XI introduced a Feast of Christ the King in 1925, commemorating 1600 years since the celebration of the Ecumenical Council of Nicea (325). It is a doctrinal feast day: it does not celebrate an event of salvation, but rather put a specific doctrine in the center of reflection.

This feast used to be celebrated on the last Sunday in October (immediately before All Saints), but it was moved to last Sunday of the liturgical year during the reform of the calendar.

You anointed your Only Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, with the oil of gladness as eternal Priest and King of all creation, so that, by offering himself on the altar of the Cross as a spotless sacrifice to bring us peace, he might accomplish the mysteries of human redemption and, making all created things subject to his rule, he might present to the immensity of your majesty an eternal and universal kingdom, a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, kingdom of justice, love and peace.

Roman Missal; Preface