Lateran Treaty: what it was, importance and consequences

O Lateran Treaty was an agreement signed between the governmentItalian and the Holy See, that is, the churchCatholic, during the fascist regime. With this agreement, the so-called Roman Question was resolved, a disagreement that had existed between the Italian government and the Holy See since the mid-nineteenth century. The signing of this treaty also ratified the creation of Vatican City State, guaranteeing sovereignty over a piece of land for the Catholic Church, in 1929.

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Roman question

First, before we talk about the Lateran Treaty, we need to understand why it was needed, and for that we need to address the Roman Question.That question was one of the big consequences gives italian unification, a process of consolidation of the national territory and formation of Italy as a nation, which took place during the 19th century.

The unification of Italy was inspired after the Spring of the Peoples, a revolution with the character of self-assertion of the peoples that took place in Europe. Italian unification was led by the

Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, ruled at the time by the king Victor Emanuel II, and by Prime Minister Camilo Benso, aka Count Cavour.

As a result of unification, the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia became kingdom of italy in 1861. At that time, other territories had already been added to the kingdom that was then called Italy, except for the lands that were in the central region of the Italian Peninsula and which were called Papal States.

The Kingdom of Italy was interested in annexing the lands of the Papal States to its kingdom, but it had not done so, because French troops protected the region. The situation remained unchanged for almost a decade, but in 1870 with the outbreak of Franco-Prussian War, the French king called Napoleon III he was obliged to summon the troops stationed in the Papal States.

With the unprotected Papal States, VitorimmanuelII initiated actions to formalize the annexation of the territory to the Kingdom of Italy. As there was no negotiated solution, the Italian king ordered his troops to invade the Papal States. On September 20, 1870, Italian troops entered Rome and thus the region was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy.

Annexation of the lands of the Catholic Church started the QuestionRoman. Pope Pius IX declared himself a prisoner of the Italian government for not accepting the loss of Church lands. Furthermore, the Italian king was excommunicated, and the Catholic Church did not recognize the sovereignty of the Italian government. The pope also instructed the faithful not to hold public office in the Italian government. This misunderstanding between the two parties extended into the 1920s.

Creation of the Vatican

With the signing of the Lateran Treaty, the creation of the Vatican City State in 1929 was ratified.

THE creationofVatican occurred under the governmentfascist who had assumed power in Italy in 1922. On that occasion, the March on Rome, an event in which thousands of Italians marched to Rome to force King Victor Emmanuel III to to remove Luigi Facta as prime minister and appoint Benito Mussolini, leader of fascism for the office.

During the first few years, Mussolini he did not enjoy much prestige as prime minister, and his government was questioned. O success of fascism in Italy much happened because of its approach to monarchists, Catholics and liberals. Despite this, relations with the Church were not good and Mussolini knew that it was necessary to get closer to the Catholic Church to ensure the success of his government.

Therefore, Mussolini acted to reduce friction with the Church, as explained by historian David I. Kertzer|1|. This formal policy of bringing the Church closer started in 1924 and, in August 1926, resulted in the beginning of negotiations that would deal with how to resolve the friction that existed between the two sides.

In these negotiations, Benito Mussolini appointed domenicobaron, government attorney, as your representative, while Pope Pius XI named FrancescoPacelli, member of a family that traditionally served the popes, to represent him. Negotiations between the Holy See and the Italian government spanned nearly three years.

During this period, negotiations came close to failing at times. At one point, the pope showed to be extremely dissatisfied with the persecution that the fascists were carrying out against a group of the Catholic Church - the ActionCatholic. There were also disagreements with King Victor Emmanuel III, which nearly brought the agreement to ruin.

Despite this, the negotiations did not fail and led to an agreement in 1929. In the last moments of the negotiations, the secretary of the Holy See – cardinal pietroGasparri – informed the ambassadors of the Catholic Church, on February 7, 1929, that an agreement was approaching. On the 9th, Mussolini and Pacelli agreed the last details before the formal signing.

In September 11th, Benito Mussolini and Pietro Gasparri gathered in the Sala dos Papas, located in the Lateran Palace. O popePioXI was also present and, after analyzing the agreement and consenting to its approval, Gasparri continued with the meeting and formalized the signing of the TreatedinLateran. The Holy See and the Italian government put an end to the Roman Question.

Benito Mussolini (left) was Italy's dictator at the time of the Lateran Treaty.**

The Lateran Treaty, according to David I. Kertzer had three important points|2|:

1. The creation of the State of the Vatican and that State had sovereignty over its territory and the Italian government could not intervene in that territory under any circumstances.

2. Italy pledged not to let its internal affairs impact Vatican sovereignty and would take some actions to benefit Catholicism in Italy.

3. O governmentItalian promised to pay a indemnity which totaled one billion dollars (in conversion to 2013 values).

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Popes after the Lateran Treaty

Since the creation of the Vatican State, a sovereign state under the control of the Catholic Church, in 1929, eightpopes they were at the head of the Church, including Pius XI himself, who led the negotiations. The list of popes in the Catholic Church from 1929 to the present day is as follows:

1. Pius XI (1922-1939)

2. Pius XII (1939-1958)

3. Saint John XXIII (1958-1963)

4. Paul VI (1963-1978)

5. John Paul I (1978)

6. John Paul II (1978-2005)

7. Benedict XVI (2005-2013)

8. Francisco (2013-)

|1| KERTZER, David I. The Pope and Mussolini: the secret connection between Pius XI and the rise of fascism in Europe. Rio de Janeiro: Intrinsic, 2017, p. 125.
|2| Idem, pp. 132-133.

*Image credits: catwalker and Shutterstock

**Image credits: Everett Historical and Shutterstock