Though the establishment of the Feast of Christ the King by Pope Pius XI in 1925 was due in many ways to the political atmosphere of the time, as the emerging Kingdom of Italy claimed the "Papal states" and declared Rome the Capital of Italy and even though Jesus himself appears to have rejected any attempt to make him a king, there is, nevertheless, clear biblical, theological and spiritual doctrine inherent in this celebration. Pope Pius suggested that many graces would flow from the celebration of the feast. He set the last Sunday of October, the Sunday before the feast of all saints, as the day for the celebration. Thus linking the image of Jesus, victorious over death, with his victory clearly manifest in the holiness of countless men and women who were his disciples and who strove to live according to the spirit of the Gospel. In 1969 Pope Paul VI changed the date of the feast to the last Sunday of the liturgical year immediately before the first Sunday of Advent, when we begin our preparation for the birth of Jesus, the new-born king. In his document on changing the date of the feast, Pope Paul VI underlined the spiritual significance of the Feast for our Catholic Laity.