Discover why Vatican City, the heart of the Catholic Church, remains an independent city-state entirely surrounded by Rome. This video explores the historical conflicts between the Papacy and Italy, ...

The Lateran Treaty dates back to February 11, 1929. Under the treaty, Pope Pius XI was given full sovereignty over the tiny Vatican City State. Historian John Schmidt recalls what happened during ...

Italy Vatican protests Italy's anti-homophobia law in rare public intervention: 'An unprecedented act' Church cited the Lateran Treaty, signed in the 1920s with Italy ...

February 11 is a national holiday inItaly. The date marks the anniversary of three historic pacts: the Lateran Treaty, which formally constituted Vatican City as an independent territorial state ...

That too, the Vatican held, violated the Lateran Treaty. Divorce was made legal in Italy in 1970, proving, said Giovagnoli, that note “didn’t lead to any result. ...

Vatican City was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984. It became an independent state in February 1929, as defined by the Lateran Treaty. Vatican City is deemed the smallest country in ...

In this 1929 deal, the Lateran Treaty, the Italian authorities also recognized Vatican City as a sovereign entity. The bulk of the Vatican’s properties are in Rome and used to house church ...

Nevertheless, the Vatican refused to pay the taxes—which might run upwards of $15 million a year-citing the Lateran Treaty of 1929 between Pope Pius XI and Mussolini.

The Lateran Pacts of 1929, in which the Vatican and the Italian state recognized each other as sovereign nations, established that Vatican salaries would be tax-free and institutions on Vatican ...