A Questionable Conclusion

very important to remind Catholics and even certain priests on Twitter that the Magisterium does in fact have something to say about these mandates and it isn’t in their favor

this for example is taken from paragraph 70 of Pius XI’s Casti connubii pic.twitter.com/zJjWMHfYH7

— Classical Theist ✠ (@ClassicalTheis) September 14, 2021

Injustice does provide limits to civil authority, but punishment alone doesn't tell us what is just and unjust.

Kwasniewski on the Feast of Christ the King

I'm somewhat agnostic on the "best form" of government, when governments seem to always devolve. But on today's feast, Peter K looks at Christianity & Kingship:

Between Christ the King and “We Have No King But Caesar” - OnePeterFive - https://t.co/fCjYptnA69 via @onepeterfive pic.twitter.com/u4zeQCYJv8

— Steve Skojec (@SteveSkojec) October 25, 2020

1P5

Kwasniewski:

The month of November begins with the great Solemnity of All Saints. But in the traditional Roman calendar, All Saints is preceded shortly before by an even greater feast—that of Christ the King, the One who creates and sanctifies the citizens, ambassadors, and soldiers of His Kingdom.

When Pope Pius XI instituted the feast of Christ the King in 1925, he was, one might say, supplying in the Church’s calendar the missing invisible cause of All Saints, as well as making clear just what the mission of the saints in history is: to be the living members of the Mystical Body under Christ its Head, and to extend this body across the whole earth. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the King of all men, all peoples, all nations, and His saints are those who, taking up their cross and following Him, have conquered their own souls and won over the souls of many others for this Kingdom.

This is close to the justification that Pius XI used in Quas Primas. Note that in the Byzantine rite, the feast of All Saints is celebrated after Pentecost (as it used to be celebrated in the West), and for an appropriate liturgical and theological reason. Otherwise the case could be made that every Sunday is a memorial of Christ who is the Head of His Mystical Body.

As Michael Foley shows in a brilliant article in the latest issue of The Latin Mass magazine, the feast was not merely moved, but transmogrified. It was given a new name, a new date, and new propers, all of which deemphasized the social reign of Christ and put in its place a “cosmic and eschatological Christ.”

But is the Pauline/Consilium's Feast of Christ the King closer in its conception of Christ to the Byzantine representation of Christ Pantocrator? Perhaps.

This leads me back to Pope Paul VI’s suppression of one feast of Christ the King and his creation of another. What is really going on here? It seems to me that the original feast of Christ the King represents the Catholic vision of society as a hierarchy in which lower is subordinated to higher, with the private sphere and the public sphere united in their acknowledgment of the rights of God and of His Church. This vision was put aside in 1969 to make way for a vision in which Christ is a king of my heart and a king of the cosmos—of the most micro level and the most macro level—but not king of anything in between: not king of culture, of society, of industry and trade, of education, of civil government.

Perhaps anything more than this would be pastorally unwise - presumptuous and maybe even blasphemous? Our Lord is not a sports team, and He does not want empty praise coming from the lips of men.

Foley's article was republished at NLM, a link to which I posted here.

Trying to Establish Continuity

I think it’s a little odd for the Pope’s critics to not mention “Quadragesimo anno,” where Pius XI addressed the interpretation of “Rerum novarum” now advanced against “Fratelli tutti.” https://t.co/2cBGeRSJsD

— Pat Smith (@smithpatrick08) October 21, 2020

“To express this truth in more personal terms... I justly possess and enjoy what is rightly mine when I promote and enjoy what is rightly ours.” #FratelliTutti
--@FrAquinasOP @pficnewshttps://t.co/LB3paJj26B

— National Catholic Register (@NCRegister) October 20, 2020

The Third Encyclical

Pope Francis to Sign a New Encyclical on Human Fraternity on Oct. 3 https://t.co/7x28IkUyFW @cnalive

— Edward Pentin (@EdwardPentin) September 5, 2020

@Pontifex's new encyclical needs to heed Benedict XVI: "A brotherhood which embraces everyone in equal manner cannot expect to be taken seriously by anyone." My latest @Church_Militant story. @JZmirak @jihadwatchRS #humanfraternity #CatholicTwitter https://t.co/m8kBQMlPCE

— Dr Jules Gomes (@DrJulesGomes) September 5, 2020

The new encyclical to be released next month, on the universal human family, will invite comparison to the never-promulgated 1939 document Humani Generis Unitas. https://t.co/bOlFaGPft0

— Josh Hochschild (@JoshHochschild) September 5, 2020

John LaFarge, S.J. and The Unity of the Human Race

King Doesn't Quite Capture It

From 2014: Not Just in Our Hearts: The True Social Kingship of Christ by Steve Skojec
Christ the King and Original Sin by Timothy Flanders

Pius XI, Quas Primas

Pantocrator sounds much better to my ears. Chris is the Ruler of All because he is the rule, God's Law, the word, Divine Wisdom. Rulers do not rule in his place but in Him, participating in Him. If we accept the development of the three-fold office of the laity as a legitimate theological development, then all are kings even if not all share in political governance. They participate in the Divine Law who is Christ, even those who are subject or subordinate to others.

Some nuances are needed to correct exaggerations of the sacred status of authority in pieces such as this: First Things: Sacral Presidency by Peter J. Leithart