With Francesca Pollio Fenton

CNA Staff, November 3, 2024 / 06:00

The Bishops’ Committee on Religious Liberty, an office of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), encourages the faithful to participate in a novena ahead of the feast of Christ the King, which will be celebrated on November 24 this year. .

Christ the King Novena It will start on Friday, November 15th and end on Saturday, November 23rd.

The bishops asked the faithful to pray to Christ the King “for the freedom of the Church.”

Some of the prayer intentions included in the novena are for people of faith to gather fearlessly in places of worship, for God to give hope and courage to people living in fear of persecution, for God to protect immigrants and refugees, and for business leaders to pray on this issue. They should be free to promote, among other things, a culture of life in their workplaces.

The novena consists of a specific intention for each day, followed by prayers to the Our Father, Hail Mary, Hail Mary, and Christ the King.

The bishops published a publication in 2012. document In “Our First, Most Precious Freedom: A Commentary on Religious Freedom,” they recommended that the Solemnity of Christ the King “become a day used exclusively by bishops and priests to preach about religious freedom both here and abroad.” A feast “born of resistance to totalitarian attacks on religious freedom.”

“We call on all our Catholic brothers and sisters to intensify your prayers and fasting for the new birth of freedom in our beloved country,” the document reads.

Pope Pius XI instituted the feast of Christ the King in 1925 with his encyclical. Quas Primas (“In the first”) to respond to increasing secularism and atheism. He was aware that trying to push God out of the public sphere would lead to continued discord among people and nations.

In his encyclical, the Pope says that Jesus “is the truth itself, and it is He who must accept the truth with obedience by all humanity.”

The encyclical says: “He must reign in our minds, which must consent with perfect submission and firm faith to the revealed truths and the teachings of Christ. It should reign in our will, which must obey the laws and commandments of God. He must reign in our hearts, which reject natural desires, love God above all else, and cling to Him alone. He must reign in our bodies and in our members, who should serve as instruments for the inward sanctification of our souls, or, to use the words of the apostle Paul, ‘as instruments of justice before God.’

Jesus the King novena can be found Here.

Francesca is the Social Media Manager for the Catholic News Agency. He graduated from the University of Colorado at Denver with a degree in Communications with an emphasis in Digital Media.