A devotional act attached to a liturgical solemnity. Pius XI instituted the feast of Christ the King in the encyclical Quas Primas in 1925 to answer the exclusion of Christ from public life, and directed that the act of dedication of the human race be renewed on that day each year. The act is prayed publicly in parishes on the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, and privately at other times.

On the Solemnity of Christ the King, pray the act publicly — in most parishes it follows the homily or comes after Mass, often before the Blessed Sacrament exposed. Read it aloud with the assembly rather than silently: it names the whole human race, those who have never known Christ and those who have left him, and asks that all be gathered into his Kingdom. To gain the plenary indulgence attached to its public recitation on that day, go to sacramental confession, receive Holy Communion and pray for the intentions of the Holy Father, with the heart detached from affection for sin.

Citation

Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, 4th ed. (Apostolic Penitentiary, 1999), grant on acts of consecration and devotion: a plenary indulgence, on the usual conditions, for the public recitation of the Act of Dedication of the Human Race to Jesus Christ King (Iesu dulcissime, Redemptor) on the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe; a partial indulgence for its recitation at other times. The governing norms are those of Paul VI, Indulgentiarum Doctrina (1967).

christological