Quas primas

Quas primas (Latin: In the first) was an encyclical of Pope Pius XI. Promulgated on December 11, 1925, it introduced the Feast of Christ the King.

Purpose and content

Quas primas established the Feast of Christ the King which was Pope Pius XI's response to the world's increasing secularization and nationalism.

In 1925 Pope Pius XI asked Édouard Hugon, professor of philosophy and theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum to work on Quas primas.

“While nations insult the beloved name of our Redeemer by suppressing all mention of it in their conferences and parliaments, we must all the more loudly proclaim his kingly dignity and power, all the more universally affirm his rights.” Pius XI explained that by virtue of Christ’s claim to kingship as creator and redeemer, societies as well as individuals owe Him obligations as king.

It was written in the aftermath of World War I, a time that witnessed the rise of regimes in Europe, which often attempted to assert authority over the Church. Pius hoped the institution of the feast would a lead to a realization that the Church has the right to freedom, and immunity from the state (Quas Primas, 32).