Vatican City

{| class="toccolours" border="1" cellpadding="4" style="float: right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em; width:250px; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%; clear: right"

History

It is supposed that this originally uninhabited part of Rome (the ager vaticanus) had always been considered sacred, even before the arrival of Christianity. In 326 the first church, Constantine's basilica, was built over the supposed site of the tomb of Saint Peter, and from then on the area started to become more populated.

Related Topics:
Rome - Christianity - 326 - Saint Peter

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Popes in their secular role gradually extended their control over neighbouring regions and, through the Papal States, ruled a large portion of the Italian peninsula for more than a thousand years until the mid 19th century, when most of the territory of the Papal States was seized by the newly united Kingdom of Italy.

Related Topics:
Pope - Papal States - Italian - Newly united

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1870, the Pope's holdings were further circumscribed when Rome itself was annexed. Disputes between a series of "prisoner" popes and Italy were resolved on February 11, 1929 by three Lateran treaties, which established, under Mussolini, the independent state of the Vatican City and granted Roman Catholicism special status in Italy. The Cathedra (official seat) of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, is St. John Lateran, which is extra-territorially a part of the Vatican city-state as a result of the 1929 treaty. The Lateran is on one of the 7 hills of Rome (the Caelian). In 1984, a new concordat between the Holy See and Italy modified certain provisions of the earlier treaty, including the primacy of Roman Catholicism as the Italian state religion.

Related Topics:
Rome - Prisoner - February 11 - 1929 - Lateran treaties - Mussolini - Roman Catholicism - Cathedra - Caelian

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~