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KRAKOW (ChurchMilitant.com) - The bishops of Poland have formally recognized Jesus Christ as King of Poland. The bishops, in the presence of Polish president Andrzej Duda, performed an official act of recognition on November 19, at the Church of Divine Mercy in Krakow.

The act was repeated in all Polish cathedrals and parishes on Sunday. The action of the Polish bishops is consistent with Pope Pius XI's 1925 encyclical "Quas Primas," which solidified the devotion to Christ the King.

In the encyclical, Pope Pius XI wrote, "When once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony."

He continued, "Our Lord's regal office invests the human authority of princes and rulers with a religious significance; it ennobles the citizen's duty of obedience."

"Nations will be reminded by the annual celebration of this feast that not only private individuals but also rulers and princes are bound to give public honor and obedience to Christ," he explained.

WATCH NOW The episcopate of Poland, in its official statement regarding the act of recognition, said, We profess in face of God and Earth, that we need your rule. We profess, that you and only you have holy rights to us that never expired. Therefore with humility we bend our heads to you, The Lord of the Universe, and we recognize your rule over Poland and our whole nation, that lives in the motherland and away in the wide world. Hereby Poland in the 1,050th anniversary of its baptism, solemnly recognizes the rule of Jesus Christ.

The action by the bishops, with the apparent blessing of Duda, follows on the heels of Peru's consecration to the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts earlier this year.

The President of Peru, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, officially consecrated Peru at the National Prayer Breakfast on October 21, in Lima.

In his speech, Kuczynski remarked, "By the authority vested in me, I make an act of consecration of myself, my family and the Republic of Peru to the love and protection of Almighty God through the intercession of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary."

The action echoes that Ecuadorian president Gabriel Garcia Moreno, who consecrated Ecuador to the Sacred Heart on March 25, 1874.

Ecuador's official act of consecration read, "Prostrate before your divine presence, all the public powers of the Church and of the State offer and consecrate to Thee now and for always the republic of Ecuador as Thy exclusive possession and property."

Moreno also added these articles to Ecuador's constitution:

Art. 1: The Republic of Ecuador consecrates itself to the Holy Heart of Jesus, proclaiming it as Patron and Protector. Art. 2: The Feast of that same Sacred Heart of Jesus is prescribed as a civil first-class holy day, to be observed in every cathedral of this Republic by diocesan prelates with all possible ceremony.

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