Confraternity of Christ the King

Quanta Cura and the Syllabus of Errors

2026-02-06T00:00:00-00:00

In this thundering denunciation of modern errors, Pope Pius IX defends Catholic teaching on society, on the state, on marriage, and on the Church without ambiguity and without apology. Beginning with a lamentation of how far errors about these matters have spread, and continuing to command the bishops of the world to teach their flocks the truth, Pope Pius defends the deposit of faith that was handed down to him from the apostles.

Even more, however, Pope Pius takes the extraordinary step of explicitly listing eighty errors which no Catholic can accept. This famous “syllabus of errors” provides clearly identified doctrines which a Catholic must reject, and guides Catholic states and societies in how they should manage important issues.

Quanta Cura and the Syllabus of Errors is a milestone of Catholic social teaching and a vital part of the doctrine of Christ the King.

Christus vincit! Christus regnat! Christus imperat!

The Cristero Counterrevolution and the Battle for the Soul of Mexico: A Review

2026-01-31T00:00:00-00:00

The great king, St. Louis IX of France, lay dying in Tripoli on his second great crusade, and imparted this advice to the eldest son who would take up the throne after him. Short, but full of wisdom, this is great advice for anyone, male or female, king or peasant. We offer the Latin original and an original translation to the world.

Christus vincit! Christus regnat! Christus imperat!

The Cristero Counterrevolution and the Battle for the Soul of Mexico: A Review

2026-11-25T00:00:00-00:00

The great crusade fought and—nearly—won by the common people of Mexico, only a century ago, is barely known in the English-speaking world, and those of us who do know about it probably mostly know only about the martyrdom of Fr. Miguel Pro, or possibly also of José Sánchez del Río. These great martyrs should be known, but the war itself should be known, as well. Fr. Ravasi's The Cristero Counterrevolution and the Battle for the Soul of Mexico goes a long way to solving that problem. Fr. Ravasi reviews the history of Mexico since independence and shows how it is a quintessential battle between the two cities of St. Augustine, the City of God and the city of man, and that the battle finally came to violence in 1926 with the enforcement of the anti-Catholic Calles laws. He shows how the people of Mexico were very slow to rise against their government; that they agonized over it, and did it only when they had absolutely no other choice. He further shows that, having risen, they rose with all the had: they fought, bled, and died without any hesitation. So many died, on the battlefield and under government torture or on the other side of government firing squads, with nothing but the praise of Christ the King on their lips. Though the uprising was eventually undermined—one might be tempted to say betrayed—by the hierarchy of the Church, and perhaps even by Rome—one cannot fail to be inspired by these great heroes of Christ the King, and their battle cry can, and must, be ours, as well: ¡Viva Cristo Rey! ¡Viva Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe!

His Reign Shall Have No End, by Peter Kwasniewski: A Review

2026-11-14T00:00:00-00:00

Given the charism of the CCR and the clear superiority of the Traditional Rite for promoting and instantiating the doctrine of Christ the King, we were beyond excited to hear of the publication of Dr. Peter Kwasniewski's new book His Reign Shall Have No End: Catholic Social Teaching for the Lionhearted. And the volume does not disappoint. Brilliantly subtitled to call to mind the great Pope Leo XIII, the book beautifully exposits the doctrine of Christ the King and what it should look like in our world. Kwasniewski divides his book into five parts: the authority of the Church in social matters; the nature of freedom, of equality, and of hierarchy; the nature of property rights—including an entire chapter on distributism; the conversion of culture; and lastly the Kingship of Christ. The Kingship of Christ didn't fall out of the sky, when men still tried to live it; it had to built, slowly, laboriously, brick by brick, by the men of the Church over centuries. Kwasniewski points out that the social reign of Christ the King, however hard it may be to establish, must be established, and that only we, His followers on earth, can work to establish it. It is hard fight, perhaps the hardest there is, and for some of us it will likely end only in martyrdom. But it is a fight worth fighting; indeed, it is the only fight worth fighting. ¡Viva Cristo Rey!

Age viriliter! The Motto of the CCR

2026-11-08T00:00:00-00:00

Age viriliter—act manfully, is the motto of the CCR for a very good reason. The roots of this phrase go deep in the Sacred Scriptures, appearing no less than eleven times, and ten of those in the Old Testament. We go over all of these appearances, discussing what they are referring to—including the one which actually states that a woman has acted manfully! We then discuss the uses of the word viriliter in a non-Christian context, particularly in reference to Cicero, who used it in reference to barbarians and how they were unable to act manfully in the applicable sense. Finally, we go over St. Thomas's application of the phrase to 1 Corinthians 13:7, on acting in charity, and how this applies to our own lives. The goal is always to show why the CCR chose this, among all the other powerful phrases of Scripture and Tradition, for its motto, and what lessons we should draw from it for our daily lives.

Totally Renewed: The CCR Psalter!

2026-11-02T00:00:00-00:00

The psalms have always been the Catholic prayer book par excellence, the prayers written by God Himself, by the inspiration of David, for His praise. The Psalter, the order of psalms prayed by Catholic religious, ensures that all the psalms are prayed at least once per week. It forms the core of the Divine Office and has an ancient history in Christian practice.

However, many Christians do not have the time to pray the entirety of the Divine Office; those of us whose vocations are not religious, in particular, will have trouble praying the whole thing. The psalms, though, are within reach; this book is designed to make that easier.

This book contains the entire Roman psalter, so that the Christian can pray each and every psalm, along with a good number of other prayers and canticles from the Scriptures, every week. It further contains a great many other features:

The whole psalter (in Latin, from the Clementine Vulgate; and in English, from the Douay-Rheims; in both cases, the gold standard);
Instructions for praying Prime and Compline according to the psalter, along with the general rubrics of the Divine Office as needed for praying the psalter;
The Stations of the Cross, in the method of St. Alphonsus Liguori;
The Itinerarium (the traditional travelling prayers of the Church);
Prayers before and after meals;
The approved litanies (the litany of the saints; the litany of Loreto (the litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary); the litany of the Sacred Heart; the litany of the Precious Blood; the litany of St. Joseph);
Many prayers associated with Christ the King;
The Mass for the feast of Christ the King;
The Divine Office for the feast of Christ the King;
Music and lyrics for several hymns involving Christ the King;
A complete index and table of contents;
Throughout, beautiful artwork to assist in prayer.

This psalter is a valuable resource for any member of the CCR, or indeed any Christian who wishes to delve more deeply into the sacred prayers of the psalms.

O Rex Magne: O Mighty King!

2026-10-27T00:00:00-00:00

Latin is the language of the Church, no matter how neglected it is in these sad times; and even in its present state of neglect, there is a decent among of Latin prose being written. But Latin poetry and hymnody is still very sparse. This little work is an attempt to contribute to rectifying that situation. This is a hymn to Christ the King, written in the rhythm and rhyme scheme of the legendary Dies iræ. An informal English translation is offered underneath it.

Like all translations, the English here is inexact; it is necessary to refer to the Latin to get the true import of the hymn. But it's possible to get pretty close, especially with two languages from the same broad family (western Indo-European), like Latin and English. Furthermore, the translation is not in verse, allowing us to mangle the rhythm at will to come closer to the original's meaning. In this way, we have produced a credible approximation.

Of course, if you read Latin, that's best; and by singing or even merely saying the Latin, even if you don't understand it, the aesthetics of the sound and rhythm are still present.

Why Not the Last Sunday of the Year?

2026-10-25T00:00:00-00:00

The Novel Rite puts the feast of Christ the King (renamed the feast of Christ, “King of All Things”) on the last Sunday per annum, or what is rather ridiculously translated as “Ordinary Time”. But this was an innovation of 1970; originally the feast was on the last Sunday of October, as placed there by the originator of the feast, Pope Pius XI. Why didn't he pick the last Sunday of the liturgical year? Let's have a look.

The Battle of Lepanto

2024-10-07T00:00:00-00:00

The great Battle of Lepanto stopped the westward expansion of the Ottoman Turks through the Mediterranean, and finally crushed their power at sea. While they remained an implacable foe on land, and indeed continued to terrorize eastern European Christendom, they were never again an existential threat to the Mediterranean through naval power. The Holy League's defeat of them at Lepanto, through the prayers of the Holy Rosary and the patronage of Our Lady of Victory, must never be forgotten. This short history is well worth rereading.

Fasting: For Christ and for the Poor

2024-07-18T00:00:00-00:00

Fasting has fallen out of fashion among Christians; indeed, we have had the phenomenon of Catholics, even Catholic priests, practicing fasting for Ramadan with no apparent awareness of their own ancient practices! Furthermore, what very little “fasting” we do retain is all too often so reduced in rigor as to be practically nothing. However, the tradition of fasting in Christianity goes back to the very beginning, and was enjoined by Christ Himself. St. Paul commanded it; the Church fathers commanded it; and the CCR asks all its members to fast at least once a week, on Fridays. But why? And how in the world does fasting relate to the service of the poor?

Immortale Dei: A New Translation

2024-07-10T00:00:00-00:00

The CCR is proud to announce a new original translation of Immortale Dei, the great encyclical by Pope Leo XIII on the Christian constitution of states! Published side-by-side with the original Latin, this literal translation puts the words of the great pope clearly on display.

Blog Post: Why is Mary Our Queen?

2024-07-05T00:00:00-00:00

The CCR, of course, always gives honor to Christ as King; but why do we also emphasize Mary as Queen? There are very good reasons for this; here we explore them a little, and also show some of the concrete ways in which CCR members give Mary that honor. In short, failing to honor Our Lady Mary as queen would be dishonoring Christ as King; we would rather die than do that.

New: Comes Card, A4 and Letterpaper Versions

2024-07-02T00:00:00-00:00

The CCR is happy to announce two new version of the comes card, which allow members to print the comes card in a couple of convenient possible formats. The booklet and leaflet (wallet) forms are now available for both A4 and U.S. letter paper.

New "Share to Mastodon" Buttons

2024-06-29T00:00:00-00:00

Each site now includes a "Share to Mastodon" button, which permits the user to enter his server and share the page to Mastodon.

The Translation of Immortale Dei

2024-06-18T00:00:00-00:00

Why is the CCR producing new translations of certain papal documents when translations are already available at the Vatican website? How important are accurate translations, and are the translations on the Vatican website accurate and good? What about the quality of the Latin texts that are posted there? All your questions are answered, and a few concerning problems with the available translation of Immortale Dei are identified.

When is the Feast of Christ the King?

2024-05-26T00:00:00-00:00

The CCR strongly believes that the feast of Christ the King should be in its traditional place: the last Sunday of October. We ask why Pius XI put it there; why it was moved; why that was the wrong decision; and what conclusions about Christ the King we can draw from that.

Announcing the Confraternity of Christ the King

2024-04-14T00:00:00-00:00

The Confraternity of Christ the King (Consociatio Christi Regis, or CCR) is an association of Catholic faithful dedicated to the education in and spread of the doctrine of Christ the King, especially as enunciated by Pope Pius XI in his encyclical Quas Primas, and to the service of the poor.