Lateran Treaty: Difference between revisions

[[File:Francesco Pacelli.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Francesco Pacelli]] was the right-hand man to Pius XI's Secretary of State [[Pietro Gasparri]] during the Lateran Treaty negotiations]]

During the [[Italian unification|unification of Italy]] in the mid-19th century, the [[Papal States]] under [[Pius IX]] resisted incorporation into the new nation, even as almost all the other Italian countries, except for [[San Marino]], joined it; [[Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour|Camillo Cavour]]'s dream of proclaiming the [[Kingdom of Italy]] from the steps of [[St. Peter's Basilica]] did not come to pass. The nascent Kingdom of Italy invaded and occupied [[Romagna]] (the eastern portion of the Papal States) in 1860, leaving only [[Lazio|Latium]] in the pope's domains. Latium, including Rome itself, was [[Capture of Rome|occupied]] and annexed in 1870. For the following sixty years, relations between the Papacy and the Italian government were hostile, and the sovereign rights of the pope became known as the "[[Roman Question]]".

The agreements included a political treaty which created the state of the Vatican City and guaranteed full and independent sovereignty to the [[Holy See]]. The Pope was pledged to perpetual [[neutrality (international relations)|neutrality]] in [[international relations]] and to abstention from mediation in a controversy unless specifically requested by all parties. In the first article of the treaty, Italy reaffirmed the principle established in the 1848 [[Statuto Albertino|Constitution of the Kingdom of Italy]], that "the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Religion is the only religion of the State".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/secretariat_state/archivio/documents/rc_seg-st_19290211_patti-lateranensi_it.html|title=Patti lateranensi, 11 febbraio 1929 - Segreteria di Stato, card. Pietro Gasparri|website=www.vatican.va}}</ref> The attached financial agreement was accepted as settlement of all the claims of the Holy See against Italy arising from the loss of temporal power ofover the Papal States in 1870, though the sum agreed to was actually less than Italy had offered in 1871.