In the presence of Polish President Andrzej Duda and other top officials from both church and state, Jesus Christ was officially recognized as the King of Poland in a Catholic ceremony. Declared to be Poland’s Lord and Savior, the Messiah was asked to rule over the Polish nation, its people, and its government. The ceremony was held last month at the Church of Divine Mercy in Krakow and then repeated at churches across Poland, marking the 1050th anniversary of the nation’s Christianity. The congregation also renounced the devil and all his evil works.
Of course, as more than a few church leaders pointed out, the ceremony did not actually “make” Christ the King of Poland. That is because, in the Christian worldview, Jesus Christ is already King of kings, as well as King over all His creation. So, instead of actually “making” Jesus the King, the Polish ceremony enthroning Christ recognized that sovereignty, with the formalities being described by officials and celebrants as a sign of the willing submission of Poland and its people to the rule of Christ. The ceremony was also not intended to, and could not, add to Jesus’ honor or power, religious leaders cautioned. Throughout the mass, though, Christ was asked to rule over every aspect of Polish life.
The people and their leaders prayed for Christ to reign. “Immortal King of Ages Lord Jesus Christ, our God and Savior! In the Jubilee Year 1050 anniversary of the Baptism of the Polish people, in the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, here we Poles bow our heads before you, King of the Universe, together with the authorities, clergy and laity, to acknowledge your reign and dominion over Poland, those living in our homeland and throughout the world,” Poland declared at the ceremony. “We surrender to Thy law, entrust and take you to our homeland and the whole nation…. We confess before heaven and earth, that your reign we need…. Wishing to worship the majesty of Thy power and glory, with great faith and love, we cry out: Rule us Christ!”
During the ceremony, Jesus was asked by the clergy and those attending to forgive their sin individually and as a nation. In particular, they asked to be forgiven for turning away from the faith and for not loving God and other people. “We renounce the devil and all his works,” they added.
The Poles and their religious and governmental leaders also asked Jesus to rule over everything. “In our hearts, rule us, Christ! In our families, rule us, Christ! In our schools and universities, rule us, Christ! Through the Polish nation, rule us, Christ!” they asked. “We pledge to defend your holy worship and preach Thy royal glory, Christ our King, we promise! We entrust the Polish people and Polish leaders to you. Make them exercise their power fairly and in accordance with your laws … rule us, Christ! Reign in our homeland and reign in every nation — for the greater glory of the Most Holy Trinity and the salvation of mankind.”
The principle celebrant of the mass was Krakow’s Catholic Cardinal, Stanislaw Dziwisz. Before the mass began, he spoke, as well. “We would like to invite Him into our hearts and families, to our communities and environments,” Cardinal Dziwisz was quoted as saying. “We want to invite him for all that Poland is. Do not be afraid of such an act. Jesus Christ takes nothing away from us, and gives everything. His reign threatens no one, because it is expressed through love, which was crucified.”
Other top clerics offered more insight into the significance of it all. “The only Ruler of states, nations and the whole of creation, the King of kings and Lord of rulers, we entrust your Polish and Polish rulers,” Archbishop Stanislaw Gądecki, president of the Polish Episcopal Conference, was quoted as saying. He also asked Jesus to make all those in power exercise it fairly and for governments to operate in line with the laws of Christ the King. The archbishop, who leads the Polish Bishop’s Conference, also asked for Christ’s mercy, especially on Poles “who do not follow your ways.”
Speaking after the ceremony, Bishop Andrzej Czaja explained that the effort was not a declaration of Christ as King, “because He is King.” “His kingdom is not of this earth, and his dominion is over the whole universe,” the bishop added, saying people should recognize Christ’s reign over the entire creation and should also submit to His law.
The main ceremony took place on November 19, one day before the Catholic feast of Christ the King. But the historic event in Krakow, which was largely ignored outside Poland by the secular media, was inspired by what is said to have been a divine revelation given to a Polish nurse. According to Fr. Paul McDonald, writing in Rorate Caeli: “The providential and proximate origin of the act is to be found in revelations received, or said to be received, by the Servant of God Rosalia Zelkova.”
Zelkova, the nurse, reportedly said that Christ asked to be formally enthroned as King by the Polish Nation, “and not just in the hearts of the Poles, in a particular manner, and this would have saved Poland in the war that was coming,” McDonald said. And while neither church nor government leaders supported the idea fifty years ago — or even as recently as a decade ago — much has changed since then as Poland becomes increasingly religious and conservative following decades of ruthless communist oppression.
The Catholic site ChurchMilitant.com also said the act was consistent with a 1925 encyclical by Pope Pius XI. “Once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony,” the Pontiff wrote at the time. The website also noted that Peru, under President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, had recently been officially consecrated to Christ as well.
Numerous lawmakers and senior officials commented on the ceremony, saying Poland needed to hold fast to its faith and its traditions. Despite generations of savage communist totalitarianism, the people of Poland remained firm in their faith. Polls show close to 90 percent of Poles identify as Catholic, and about two thirds of those regularly attend church services. Most of the rest of the population is either Orthodox or Protestant, with less than one percent of the population practicing Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, or Hinduism. Poland has also resisted EU efforts to force member nations to accept the mass Islamic immigration, which Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said was orchestrated by a “treasonous conspiracy” to undermine Christianity, the West, and the nation-state.
Some critics opposed to moral absolutes blasted the ceremony. The far-left “Vice News,” for example, said “it’s another step the conservative government has taken towards forcing outdated morals on the Polish people.” However, officials and religious leaders said the ceremony was not about imposing anything on anyone, or coercion. And as The New American reported late last year, the Polish people voted so overwhelmingly for their conservative leadership that, for the first time since World War II, not a single left-wing lawmaker remained in Parliament.
With the Soviet regime and its puppets in Eastern Europe ostensibly having collapsed, Poland’s Christian traditions and laws have been under growing threat from the Brussels-based European Union instead. Polish laws protecting unborn children, for example, have been under relentless assault by the EU and all of its organs of power. Separately, marriage and the family have also been under relentless siege, with increasingly radicalized EU leaders trying to re-define — or un-define — marriage across the entire bloc, using any means possible. Even pro-homosexual groups with documented pro-pedophilia connections have been showered with EU tax money.
Many Christians around the world, and particularly Catholics, rejoiced at the news out of Poland. However, despite its significance, the national event was barely reported outside Poland, with the exception of Christian and alternative media outlets in the United States. Instead, it seems the establishment media across the United States and Europe were too busy manufacturing fake outrage over alleged “fake news” to notice or care. At least one globalist EU propaganda organ, though, publicly worried that Atheists and Muslims might be deported from Poland now. Lawmakers from the ruling party have ridiculed and downplayed the concerns.
But while Christ may be officially the King of Poland (and all creation), in the United States and what was long known as Christendom — not to mention communist and Islamic countries — Christianity is under massive attack. Indeed, research and studies have documented a fierce hostility to Christianity and Christians by the ruling establishment. Professors George Yancey and David Williamson, sociologists at the University of North Texas, presented their findings recently in the book So Many Christians, So Few Lions: Is There Christianophobia in the United States? Of course, the Bible and Jesus predicted that Christians and the Truth would be hated by the world, so the findings are hardly surprising. Ironically, though, Christianity has always tended to spread even more quickly in the face of persecution.
The Conference of Polish Bishops noted that the official enthronement of Christ as King of Poland last month is “not the culmination, but the beginning of the work of enthronement of Jesus Christ in Poland and the Polish nation.” What the formal enthronement of Christ as King of Poland might mean for policy remains to be seen.
Photo of ceremony at Church of Divine Mercy in Krakow, Poland: Sipa via AP Images
Alex Newman, a foreign correspondent for The New American, is normally based in Europe. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ALEXNEWMAN_JOU.
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