The centenary of Quas primas invites us to take a fresh look at a feast that, year after year, reminds us to whom history truly belongs. In this context, Fernando De Navascués, Permanent Missionary of Regnum Christi, proposes a reflection that connects the celebration of Christ the King with the real life of our mission in the world. What does this feast tell us today about the way we proclaim Christ? And what challenges does it pose to a spiritual family that wants to serve where the Church needs it most?
2025 marks the 100th anniversary of Quas primas, The feast of Christ the King of the Universe was instituted by Pius XI in his encyclical letter. For Regnum Christi, this solemnity is an occasion to renew the call to make his Kingdom present in the heart of the world, living the vocation as a response of love and service in the purest style of Jesus.
A century of Christ's kingship
In December 1925, Pope Pius XI published the encyclical Quas primas, with which he instituted the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. That document, written in a context of secularization and ideologies that wanted to build the world apart from God, proclaimed an essential truth: Christ alone, and not the powers of the world, is the Lord of history. “When people recognize the lordship of Christ, peace and justice flourish,” the Pope affirmed. One hundred years later, that message retains all its force and timeliness.
The celebration of Christ the King marks the end of the liturgical year and focuses on the kingship of Christ crucified. The words that the Gospel puts on his lips -“Today you will be with me in paradise.”- reveal the way he reigns: a reign that does not impose itself, but offers itself; that does not dominate, but saves. Jesus reigns from the cross, where power becomes love, and victory becomes mercy.
A deeply vocational solemnity
For the members of Regnum Christi, this feast is not only a liturgical date, but an invitation to renew one's vocation. Every vocation is born of an encounter with Christ and finds its fullness in making him reign in the heart and in daily life. Regnum Christi expresses this in its very name: it is a spiritual family and an apostolic body called to make the Kingdom of Christ present in the world.
Vocation in Regnum Christi is understood as a response of love to Love. It is not reduced to a choice of a state in life, but embraces the whole of existence. To live the Kingdom is to allow oneself to be transformed by Christ in order to serve him in others. On this path, the five elements of the Regnum Christi way of life help to unfold this call and make it concrete:
Spiritual life puts us in a living relationship with Christ, source of meaning and mission. The apostolate urges us to be active witnesses of the Kingdom, convinced that there is no vocation without mission. The accompaniment teaches us to discern the voice of God and to respond to it freely. Training It configures our criteria with those of Christ and enables us to serve with maturity and responsibility. Team and community life reminds us that the Kingdom is built together, in communion with others.
These five elements are not isolated compartments, but a vital itinerary that helps the members of Regnum Christi to live their vocation as disciples and apostles of the Kingdom.
They are proper to our identity, to how God wants the members of Regnum Christi to be, to our vocation, regardless of whether we are Legionaries of Christ, consecrated women, consecrated laity or lay people.
Reigning Christ today
Celebrating Christ the King, one hundred years after Quas primas, is more necessary than ever. In a world that often exalts power, efficiency or image, the Christian is called to witness to a different reign: that of love that gives itself, of service that transforms, of hope that does not disappoint. Wherever a member of Regnum Christi prays, works with righteousness, accompanies another, forms a young person or serves with joy, there the Kingdom grows silently.
Pius XI wanted this feast to recall that Christ reigns not only in temples, but also in culture, in public life and in human structures. For this reason, the Solemnity of Christ the King also has a social dimension: to recognize Christ as King implies a commitment to justice, truth and the dignity of every person. The Kingdom is extended when faith is translated into deeds, when the Gospel is made visible in relationships and in the way we work, educate and love.
A vocation that becomes mission: lay dedication in all its forms
In Regnum Christi, the call to make Christ reign is lived as a path of vocational fulfillment, each according to his or her vocation - priests, consecrated life or as a lay person - which embraces all dimensions of life: family, work, relationships and apostolate. The laity - married or single - are called to integrate faith into their professional and social life, making their daily work a place where Christ can reign.
Within this same lay call, Regnum Christi also has the Permanent Missionaries, lay people who express in a particular way this availability by offering their life and work with full dedication. From evangelization, formation or spiritual accompaniment, their mission is a concrete way of proclaiming the sovereignty of Christ with their entire existence. They are a visible sign of what all Regnum Christi lay people are invited to live: a life centered on Christ, open to the needs of the Church and oriented to transform the world from within. In some way they reflect the essence of Quas primasChrist may reign with total fullness not only in hearts, but also in all human realities with a total availability, which is not only measured in time, but also in the surrender of the heart, in the openness to serve and in the willingness to place one's gifts at the service of the Kingdom.
One hundred years later, the same Kingdom
The centennial of Quas primas is an opportunity to rediscover that the sovereignty of Christ is not an honorific title, but a reality that transforms. Those who let Christ reign experience inner freedom, the peace born of forgiveness and the joy of knowing that they are loved.
Therefore, in celebrating this Solemnity, the members of Regnum Christi renew their desire to respond wholeheartedly to Christ's invitation: to make one's life a place where he can reign. “Today you will be with me in paradise” is not only a future promise, but the announcement of a Kingdom that already begins here, when we let Christ truly be the Lord of our life.
---
Fernando De Navascues works in the Communication Office of Regnum Christi in Spain and is a professor at the Francisco de Vitoria University.
