The Holy See, Vatican City
 The Vatican is the residence of the pope at Rome.
Since the so-called Roman Question was ended by the Lateran Treaty of 1929
between Pope Pius XI and King Victor Emmanuel III (negotiated by Cardinal Gasparri and
Mussolini), the Vatican City. has been an independent state , with the pope as its
absolute ruler. It may be said to correspond politically to the former Papal States, but
its origin is not connected with them.
The Vatican City State is situated on the Vatican hill, on the right bank of
the Tiber River, within the city of Rome.
Government
The pope has full legal, executive, and judicial powers. Executive power over the area
is in the hands of a commission of cardinals appointed by the pope. The college of
Cardinals is the pope's chief advisory body, and upon his death the cardinals elect his
successor for life.
History
The Vatican City State, sovereign and independent, is the survivor of the papal states
that in 1859 comprised an area of some 17,000 square miles (44,030 sq. km). During the
struggle for Italian unification, from 1860 to 1870, most of this area became part of
Italy. By an Italian law of May 13, 1871, the temporal power of the pope was abrogated,
and the territory of the papacy was confined to the Vatican and Lateran palaces and the
villa of Castel Gandolfo. The popes consistently refused to recognize this arrangement
and, by the Lateran Treaty of Feb. 11, 1929, between the Vatican and the kingdom of Italy,
the exclusive dominion and sovereign jurisdiction of the Holy See over the city of the
Vatican was again recognized, thus restoring the pope's temporal authority over the area.
The first session of Ecumenical Council Vatican II was opened by John XXIII on Oct. 11,
1962, to plan and set policies for the modernization of the Roman Catholic Church. Pope
Paul VI continued the council, opening the second session on Sept. 29, 1963.
On Aug. 26, 1978, Cardinal Albino Luciani was chosen by the college of cardinals to
succeed Paul VI, who had died of a heart attack on Aug. 6. The new pope took the name John
Paul I. (For a listing of all the popes, see the table in Religion.) Only 34 days
after his election, John Paul I died of a heart attack, ending the shortest reign in 373
years. On Oct. 16, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, 58, was chosen pope and took the name John Paul
II.
On May 13, 1981, a Turkish terrorist shot the pope in St. Peter's Square, the first
assassination attempt against the pontiff in modern times. On June 3, 1985, the Vatican
and Italy ratified a new church-state treaty, known as a concordat, replacing the Lateran
Pact of 1929. The new accord affirmed the independence of Vatican City but ended a number
of privileges the Catholic Church had in Italy, including its status as the state
religion. The treaty ended Rome's status as a sacred city. Relations, diplomatic
and ecclesiastical, with eastern Europe have improved dramatically with the fall of
communism. Relations with Russia, while improving, have not yet reached the ambassadorial
level. Diplomatic ties were established in March 1994 with Jordan and full relations were
established with Israel in June. Six months earlier the two nations had accorded each
other mutual recognition. The Holy See, calling for closer relations with Orthodoxy, was
scheduled to meet with Russian Patriarch Alexy II in June 1997, but differences prevented
the encounter from taking place. In Jan. 1998, Pope John Paul II made a historic visit to
Cuba, hoping to promote religious freedom in that communist nation. Iranian president
Mohammad Khatami met with the pope in 1999, the first state visit by an Iranian leader to
a western nation since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.
In March 2000, the pope issued an apology for sins committed by Catholics over the past
2,000 years, including religious persecutions and discrimination against women. Several
groups criticized the vagueness of the apology, wishing the pope had specified the
church's particularly egregious sins.
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