Lateran Treaty

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Lateran Treaty concordat between the Holy See and the kingdom of Italy signed in 1929 in the Lateran Palace, Rome, by Cardinal Gasparri for Pius XI and by Benito Mussolini for Victor Emmanuel III. One of the important negotiators was Cardinal Pacelli, later Pope Pius XII. In 1871 the unity of Italy was perfected by restricting the papal sovereignty to a few buildings and awarding to Pius IX and his successors an annual indemnity for the lost Papal States. The Roman Catholic Church never recognized this arrangement and never accepted the indemnity, and the subsequent popes considered themselves prisoners in the Vatican. The problems involved were called the Roman Question, and they were solved by the treaty. It states that Roman Catholicism is the only state religion of Italy and that Italy recognizes the new state called Vatican City as fully sovereign and independent. Italy guarantees Vatican City public services and protection and recognizes as parts of it certain buildings not actually inside Vatican City. The Italian government will punish crimes committed within Vatican City, when so requested, and the Holy See will extradite to Italy persons accused of acts recognized by both parties as crimes. As to the reestablishment of the canon law in Italy, matrimony is a sacrament, and banns must be published; nullity of marriages is a question for the Church, while separations are adjudicated by the state. Religion is to be taught in primary and secondary schools, and the Holy See guarantees that Roman Catholic organizations will abstain from politics. The Italian government is to consider the person of the pope sacred and inviolable. The Holy See, pursuant to its perpetual mission of peace, will remain apart from temporal competitions of other states and from international congresses for peace, unless a unanimous appeal is made to its mission; the Holy See will use its moral and spiritual power to prevent warfare when it sees fit. The Holy See announced in the treaty that it had its proper liberty, that the Roman Question was closed, and that it recognized the kingdom of Italy under the house of Savoy. The Lateran Treaty remained in effect after the monarchy was abolished at the end of World War II. However, a concordate put into effect in 1985 modified the treaty, most importantly stating that Roman Catholicism is no longer the state religion of Italy. The sovereignty of Vatican City is still recognized.

Lateran Treaties (11 Feb. 1929) Agreements between Mussolini and Pope Pius IX which settled the dispute between the secular Italian state and the papacy which had been raging since the territories governed by the Pope had been integrated into a unified Italy 1860–70. The treaties re-established a miniscule papal state comprising 0.44 km² (0.17 sq. miles), Vatican City. In return, the Roman Catholic Church gave up its opposition to the Italian state. An additional treaty affirmed Roman Catholicism as the state religion, while in a financial treaty Italy agreed to pay the Pope 1.75 billion lire in compensation for loss of papal territory because of Italian reunification. The treaties were revised by the Concordat of 1984, in which the Italian state realized the separation of church and state.

Lateran Treaties (11 February 1929) Agreements between MUSSOLINI's government and Pius XI to regularize relations between the Vatican and the Italian government, strained since 1870 when the Papal States had been incorporated into a united Italy. By a treaty (CONCORDAT) and financial convention the VATICAN CITY was recognized as a fully independent state under papal sovereignty. The concordat recognized Roman Catholicism as the sole religion of the state. The Vatican received in cash and securities a large sum in settlement of claims against the state.

Lateran Treaty (1929). This treaty between the Italian government and the Holy See settled the position of Rome as the capital of Italy and established the Vatican City as a sovereign state.