Poland: The bishops solemnly recognize Jesus Christ as King and Lord
On November 19, 2016, in the sanctuary of Divine Mercy in Krakow, the bishops of Poland solemnly made an “Act of recognition of Jesus Christ as King and Lord” in the presence of the President of the Republic, Andrzej Duda, of the Prime Minister, Beat Szydlo, and of 100,000 faithful. Here is the beginning of this act of recognition of the royalty of Jesus Christ:
President Andrzej Duda (left) and Prime Minister Beata Szydlo.
Immortal King of the centuries, Lord Jesus Christ, our God and our Saviour! In this jubilee year of the 1050th anniversary of the Christianization of Poland, in this year of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, we, the Polish nation, come before Thee [with our spiritual and temporal authorities], in order to recognize Thy Reign, submit ourselves to Thy Law, and confide and consecrate our homeland and our entire Nation to Thee.
We confess before heaven and earth that we need thy Reign. We confess that Thou alone dost posses holy and inextinguishable rights over us. For this reason, our heads bowed in humility before Thee, King of the Universe, we recognize Thy Reign over Poland and over all of our Nation, at home and abroad.
Desiring to praise the majesty of Thy power and glory, with great faith and love we cry out: Jesus Christ, reign over us!
In our hearts – Jesus Christ, reign over us!
In our families – Jesus Christ, reign over us!
In our parishes – Jesus Christ, reign over us!
In our schools and universities – Jesus Christ, reign over us!
In our means of social communication – Jesus Christ, reign over us!
In our governments, in our workplaces, in our places of duty and leisure – Jesus Christ, reign over us!
In our cities and in our countryside – Jesus Christ, reign over us!
In the whole Nation and Polish State – Jesus Christ, reign over us! (…)
The idea of a formal act of enthronement of Christ the King in Poland dates back to 1996, when the beatification process began for a Krakovian nurse, Rosalie Celakówna (1901 – 1944), a mystic who died during the Second World War. She received this message from Christ: “There is a means of salvation for Poland: if it recognizes Me as its King and Saviour, absolutely, by an enthronement held not only in the various parts of the country but in the whole State, led by the government. This recognition must be confirmed by the abandonment of sin and a total return towards God (…).” This private message is founded on numerous Scriptural references and on the Tradition of the two-thousand-year-old Magisterium, especially in Pius XI’s encyclical of Quas primas, on the social kingship of Jesus Christ (1925).
The Polish episcopate had preceded this act of enthronement with a preparatory novena in parishes, seminaries and religious houses, inviting all the faithful to participate.
It could be regretted that in the address given on the occasion of this ceremony, the emphasis was put upon a merely individual recognition of Christ the King and on the establishment of His social reign through personal good example; one could also regret that, in the same address, the obligation of the State to recognize Christ’s authority institutionally was left in the shade. But nevertheless, this reminder of the teaching of Quas primas is de facto a refusal of the indifferentism that is the logical consequence of the religious liberty defended by Dignitatis humanae, as well as of the “silent apostasy” encouraged by a false ecumenism for the last 50 years.
(Source: private correspondent in Poland – DICI no. 345, dated November 25, 2016)
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