VATICAN - On the Solemnity of Christ the King, the Pope recalls that “the Kingdom of God is not a question of honors and appearances...God will accept into his eternal kingdom those who have made the effort every day to put his word into practice.”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “The kingship of Christ is, indeed, the revelation and the implementation of the kingship of God the Father, who governs all things with love and with justice. The Father entrusted the Son with the mission of giving men eternal life, loving them to the point of the supreme sacrifice, and at the same time he has given him the power to judge them, from the moment that he was made Son of Man, like us in all things.” On the Solemnity of Christ the King, November 23, the Holy Father Benedict XVI paused to reflect on the kingship of Christ, prior to the recitation of the Angelus with pilgrims gathered in Saint Peter's Square, the theme of the kingship of Christ. The Gospels narrate that during his life, “Jesus rejected the title of king when it was understood in a political sense,” however, “during his passion, before Pilate he claimed a different sort of kingship,” just after having said that “my kingdom is not of this world.”
The Gospel on this Solemnity shows Christ as Judge, at the end of time, with simple images and common vocabulary, “but the message is extremely important: it is the truth about our ultimate destiny and lays down the criteria by which we will be judged,” the Pope explained. The Gospel passage where Jesus says, “I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Mt 25:35), “has become a part of our civilization,” the Pope said. “It has marked the history of peoples of Christian culture, their hierarchy of values, their institutions, and their many benevolent and social organizations. In effect, the Kingdom of God is not of this world, but it brings to fulfillment all the good that, thanks to God, exists in man and history. If we put love of our neighbor into practice, according to the Gospel message, then we are making room for the lordship of God, and his kingdom will realize itself in our midst. If instead each of us thinks only of his own interests, the world cannot but be destroyed.”
Before invoking the intercession of Mary, who is “seated as Queen at the right of Christ the King,” to ask for her help to “realize our Christian mission in the world,” the Holy Father mentioned that “the Kingdom of God is not a question of honors and appearances.” He “as no use for the hypocritical ones who say 'Lord, Lord,' but have neglected his commandments,” because “God will accept into his eternal kingdom those who have made the effort every day to put his word into practice.”
After the Angelus, the Pope mentioned the beatification of the 188 Japanese martyrs, men and women, killed in the early part of the 17th century. The event will take place in Nagasaki, on November 24. “ I pledge my spiritual nearness on this occasion, which is so significant for the Catholic community, and for the whole country of the Rising Sun,” the Pope said. “Also, in Cuba next Saturday, Fray José Olallo Valdés, of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God, will be beatified. I entrust the Cuban people to his heavenly protection, especially the sick and health workers.”
Addressing the Ukrainian pilgrims present, the Pope recalled that during these days is the 75th anniversary of Holodomor – the “great famine” - of 1932-33, that led to the deaths of millions in the Ukraine and other regions of the Soviet Union, during the Communist regime... “with the ardent hope that no political order will ever again, in the name of an ideology, deny rights, freedom, and dignity to the human person. Be assured of my prayer for all the innocent victims of that immense tragedy.” In Polish, he mentioned the 70th anniversary of the Polish section of Vatican Radio, thanking its workers for their “generous labor.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 24/11/2008)