Aidan Gallagher, director of EWTN Ireland, speaks at the premiere of “The Kingship of Christ” at the Vatican on Nov. 18, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/EWTN News

CNA Staff, Nov 23, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Marking the 100th anniversary of the feast of Christ the King, which this year falls on Nov. 23, EWTN has released “The Kingship of Christ,” a four-part docuseries that explores some of the core aspects of the kingship of Christ. 

The four 30-minute episodes look at the origin of kingship in the Old and New Testaments, what type of kingship is that of Christ’s, the growth in interest and devotion to kingship in the 1800s and 1900s, and how Christ’s kingship is being realized today. 

Currently airing on EWTN, the docuseries features Father Bernard McGuckian, SJ; Father Dominic Holtz, OP; and Father Mark Lewis, SJ.

The four-part series was filmed across five principal locations in Rome that are highly relevant to Christ’s kingship, namely St. Peter’s Basilica, the Gesù (the main Jesuit Church in Rome), the Scala Santa, the Basilica of Santa Croce Gerusalemme, and the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Christ the King. 

Additionally, many other churches, basilicas, and monuments are featured across many countries throughout the world that were built in honor of the kingship of Christ.

Aidan Gallagher, director of EWTN Ireland, who co-produced the series alongside EWTN Studios and EWTN Vatican, told CNA in an interview that he was approached by McGuckian 18 months ago to see if he was interested in making a series on the kingship of Christ to “commemorate and celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the establishment of feast of Christ the King in 1925, which had followed Pope Pius XI’s papal encyclical Quas Primas.”

From there, they worked to create a comprehensive series looking into this devotion and its importance. 

“At the heart of this work lies the desire that the kingship of Christ is recognized, realized, and accepted by individuals, peoples, societies, countries across the entire world so that Christ can reign in all hearts and thus be truly king of the world, leading us to peace,” he said. 

He explained that extensive work “has been put into researching and evidencing the fact that Jesus Christ is King, where we highlighted relevant Scripture across thousands of years from the Old Testament and New Testament. So, for thousands of years it has been there, and we hope that people will take away this fact from watching the series.”

The film premiered at the Filmoteca Vaticano, a screening room in the Vatican, on Nov. 18. Ambassadors to the Holy See, journalists, and dignitaries were present for the screening. 

Gallagher shared that it was “very well received” and “there was excitement about watching the full series online.”

After watching the series, he said he hopes that “people will understand the type of kingship which Christ presents and that recognition and allegiance to his kingship can ultimately lead us to peace, holiness, and the betterment of human existence — both in this life and the next.”

“The Kingship of Christ” can also be viewed on EWTN Ireland’s website.

The Chapel of Christ the King at Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia. / Credit: Courtesy of Christendom College

Dublin, Ireland, Nov 23, 2025 / 04:00 am (CNA).

The feast of Christ the King was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925 following his encyclical Quas Primas. Today it is celebrated on the final Sunday before Advent. 

null / Credit: Courtesy of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles

Dublin, Ireland, Nov 22, 2025 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

How Marthe de Noaillat championed Christ’s kingship against all odds.

Pope Leo XIV holds an audience with the Roman Rota on Nov. 21, 2025, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 22, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

In a firm call to avoid “false mercy” in marriage annulment proceedings, Pope Leo XIV reminded that compassion cannot disregard the truth.

During a Friday audience with participants in the legal-pastoral training course of the Roman Rota, the Holy See’s court of appeals, the Holy Father read a lengthy speech in which he recalled the importance of the reform of marriage annulment processes initiated by Pope Francis 10 years ago.

The pontiff emphasized that theology, law, and pastoral care must be understood in a harmonious way, not as separate or opposing areas, and pointed out that annulment proceedings are not merely technical procedures to obtain the “free status of persons” but rather an ecclesial service based on the search for truth and on family pastoral care.

Judicial processes at the service of truth

In this context, Pope Leo stressed that ecclesial judicial processes must be “at the service of the truth” and also reiterated that “the mystery of the conjugal covenant” must be kept in mind.

“A fundamental aspect of pastoral service operates in judicial authority: the diaconia [ministry] of truth. Every faithful person, every family, every community needs truth about their ecclesial situation in order to walk well the path of faith and charity. The truth about personal and community rights is situated in this context: the juridical truth declared in ecclesiastical processes is an aspect of existential truth within the Church,” he stated.

Consequently, the Holy Father pointed out that “the sacred authority is participation in the authority of Christ, and its service to truth is a way of knowing and embracing the ultimate truth, which is Christ himself.”

A manifestation of justice and mercy

He then recalled that in God’s judgment on salvation, “his forgiveness of the repentant sinner is always at work, but human judgment on the nullity of marriage cannot however be manipulated by false mercy.”

“Any activity contrary to the service of the process of truth must certainly be deemed unjust. However, it is precisely in the proper exercise of judicial authority that true mercy must be practiced,” he emphasized.

In this regard, Pope Leo XIV insisted that the process of matrimonial nullity can be seen as “a contribution by legal practitioners to satisfy the need for justice that is so deeply rooted in the conscience of the faithful, and thus to accomplish a just work motivated by true mercy.”

“The aim of the reform,” he added, “which is to make the process more accessible and expeditious, but never at the expense of truth, thus appears as a manifestation of justice and mercy.”

The pontiff also emphasized the urgency of ensuring realism in annulment cases and appealed to the responsibility of the judges of the Roman Rota. He thus encouraged them to view the institution of the judicial process “as an instrument of justice” in which there is “an impartial judge” and the aim is to seek “a great benefit for all concerned and for the Church herself.”

He stressed the importance of making “efforts to promote reconciliation between spouses are very important, including, where possible, through the validation of the marriage.”

“Behind the procedural technicalities, with the faithful application of the current legislation, the ecclesiological presuppositions of the matrimonial process are therefore at stake: the search for truth and the ‘salus animarum’ itself [the salvation of souls],” he noted.

Synergy between justice and pastoral care

Pope Leo recalled in this regard that, in recent years, there has been “a growing awareness of the inclusion of the Church’s judicial activity in the field of marriage within the overall pastoral care of the family.”

“This pastoral care,” he pointed out, “cannot ignore or underestimate the work of ecclesiastical tribunals, and the latter must not forget that their specific contribution to justice is a piece in the task of promoting the good of families, with particular reference to those in difficulty.”

Thus, he emphasized that “the synergy between pastoral attention to critical situations and the judicial sphere has found significant expression in the implementation of preliminary investigations aimed at ascertaining the existence of grounds for initiating a case of nullity.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Kevin Duffy'’s analysis of ONS conceptions data over the 10 years to 2022 illustrates that approximately half of women who have not had a child by the age of 30 would not have been childless without abortion in the years before this. Duffy says: “For these women it was a decision upon becoming pregnant, not to continue into motherhood at that time, for a whole myriad of reasons.” / Credit: Courtesy of Kevin Duffy

London, England, Nov 22, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A report called “Abortion and Childlessness” shows that many women who have abortions in their 20s may be faced with the real risk of remaining childless at 45.

Archbishop Dermot Farrell of the Dublin Archdiocese holds up the decree on Nov. 14, 2025, that Pope Leo XIV sent him granting his request that St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Dublin be designated as the cathedral Church of the archdiocese. / Credit: John McElroy/Dublin Archdiocese

Dublin, Ireland, Nov 21, 2025 / 12:09 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV formally designated St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral as the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Dublin, ending 200 years of the cathedral’s “temporary” status.

The ordination of Jonathan Goodall (former Anglican bishop) to the Catholic priesthood in Westminster Cathedral, London, March 12, 2022. / Credit: Mazur/CBCEW.org.uk

London, England, Nov 21, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The U.K. has seen a significant rise in Anglican clergy, including bishops, converting to Catholicism, according to a new report released Nov. 20.

Alice Kessler and Ellen Kessler attend the Circus Krone Christmas Premiere at Circus Krone on Dec. 25, 2022, in Munich, Germany. The twin sisters ended their lives by assisted suicide at their home in Grünwald, close to Munich, on Monday, Nov. 17, 2025. / Credit: Hannes Magerstaedt/Getty Images

CNA Deutsch, Nov 20, 2025 / 13:18 pm (CNA).

The Federal Association for the Right to Life has criticized the “praise” many have voiced about the recent assisted suicides of the 89-year-old Kessler twins in Germany.

EWTN Spain President José Carlos González-Hurtado. / Credit: Nicolás Cárdenas/ACI Prensa

Madrid, Spain, Nov 20, 2025 / 10:10 am (CNA).

José Carlos González-Hurtado, president of EWTN Spain, has published a new book, “The Scientific Evidence that Jesus Is God.”

Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda of Gniezno, president of the Polish Bishops’ Conference (left), and Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the German Bishops’ Conference, embrace after signing the joint declaration “Courage of Extended Hands” at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Wrocław, Poland, on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, during commemorations of the 60th anniversary of the historic correspondence between the Polish and German Bishops’ Conferences. / Credit: Deutsche Bischofskonferenz/Rafael Ledschbor

EWTN News, Nov 20, 2025 / 09:10 am (CNA).

Polish and German bishops commemorated this week the 60th anniversary of the historic 1965 reconciliation letters that became a model for European peace.