The Vatican City State: Good things come in
small packages By Arnaldo Teodorani Intro
Spanish author and journalist Arturo Perez-Reverte once defined the Vatican City as the smallest,
yet more powerful State on Earth. This tiny City State, nested inside Rome,
measures only 0.17 square miles, with a population of 840 inhabitants. Yet its ruler, the Pope, holds spiritual,
moral and sometimes even political influence over a community of 1.4 Billion Catholics
worldwide. For all its influence, little is known about
the Vatican City State. Well, at least we knew very little about it
when we started researching it. One of my team is from Rome and even he had
no idea of how many exorcisms have been performed within the Vatican walls. Please join me today in exploring today’s
Geographics: The Vatican City State. A Brief History of the Vatican
A full history of the Papacy would take more than our usual 20 minutes to tell, so we are
going to focus on some events that led to the Vatican becoming the City State that is
today. In ancient time the term ‘Vatican’ identified
an area of marshes and hills in Rome stretching from today’s Milvio bridge to the Sixtus
bridge. The origin of the word ‘Vatican’ is still
disputed. According to Roman historian Sextus Pompeus
Festus, the area was a meeting point for Etruscan priests expert at predicting the future, or
‘vates’ – hence, Vatican. Fast forward to the Current Era: tradition
has it that St Peter suffered martyrdom in the area in the persecutions ordered by Nero,
64 CE. The area became a growing necropolis, which
was then covered by a large basilica around 324 CE. This was dedicated to St Peter and was commissioned
by Emperor Constantine, the first ruler of Rome to convert to Christianity. For centuries the Popes resided elsewhere,
in the Lateran palaces, until Popes Eugene III and Innocent III developed new buildings
in the area around St Peter’s church. This was in the late XIIth and early XIIIth
Centuries. But the great changes that led St Peter’s
Square and the Vatican to become the tourist attractions we know today, were introduced
by Julius II from 1503 to 1513. Pope Julius summoned Raphael and Michelangelo
to Rome, asking them, respectively, to fresco the papal apartments and the Sistine Chapel. After the Pope’s death Michelangelo continued
with an even greater masterpiece: the planning and building of the Basilica of Saint Peter. The famous dome was added by another architect,
Giacomo Della Porta. In the XVIIth Century Baroque mastermind Gian
Lorenzo Bernini completed the splendid St Peter’s square with its hemicycles of four
rows of columns. At that time the Vatican City wasn’t a ‘thing’,
let alone a ‘State’. Until the 20th of September 1870 Roman Popes
were spiritual and temporal leaders in charge of a larger State of the Church, which at
its peak occupied all of central Italy. In March 1861, with the unification of Italy,
the State of the Church was reduced to Rome and its surrounding areas, protected by Napoleon
III of France. Only in September 1870 the Italian army occupied
Rome, relegating the Pope within the Leonine walls which surround the Vatican estate. For almost sixty years the relationship within
the Italian Government and the Holy See remained tense, and the temporal power of the Pope
was undefined. This changed with the signing of the Lateran
Pacts between the Holy See and Italy on February 11th 1929. The pacts effectively marked the foundation
of the Vatican City as a sovereign State, universally recognized under international
law. Mussolini’s government celebrated the event
by opening ‘Via della Conciliazione’ or ‘Reconciliation Avenue’, which leads straight
into St Peter’s square. [Image suggestion: Map of Vatican City in
1932] Famous Popes of the XXth and XXIst Centuries
Time now for a quick fire gallery of some of the Popes that have ruled over the Vatican
– and the Catholic faith – since the foundation of the City State. From 1922 to 1939, Pope Pious XI became famous
for his relationship with the fascist dictators of the time, wary of the threat that communism,
a materialistic doctrine, posed on Catholicism. He was the Pope who signed the Lateran Pact
in 1929, but also a Concordat with Hitler, in the hopes that this relationship might
help stem the rising tide of communism. He was followed by Pious XII, who had the
difficult task of leading Catholics through the ordeal of WWII. He was dubbed ‘Htiler’s Pope’, probably
an exaggeration. He was accused by some of failing to do enough
to help the Jews from systematic persecution, while other Catholics are campaigning for
him to become a Saint. The cause for sainthood? The fact that he hid Jews during the war! An answer may lie in his section of the Secret
Archive of the Vatican … John XXIII ruled from 1958 to 1963, but those
5 short years left an enduring mark. One of the most beloved popes in recent Church
history, John convened the Second Vatican Council, which inaugurated many changes in
the Roman Catholic Church: for example, it allowed the use of local languages – instead
of Latin – during Mass; it also toned down the doctrine of papal primacy. Or, if you like, it introduced a communal
decision-making process in matters of the Church against the previous absolute rule
of the Pope. John Paul II, the first non-Italian Pope in
centuries, was in charge from 1978 to 2005, one of the longest reigning Pontiffs. Formerly the Bishop of Krakow, Pope Wojtyla
was involved in matters of foreign policy supporting a democratic agenda, most notably
opposing Communist dictatorships in Eastern Europe. On the 21st of July 1981 he survived an assassination
attempt by a Turkish right-wing extremist, Ali Agca. Agca was a member of the organisation The
Grey Wolves and claimed that his was a gesture to protest the imperialism of both the West
and the USSR. More on this later …
The successor, formerly known as Cardinal Ratzinger, was Benedict XVI. He is best remembered for his abdication due
to health concerns in 2013, although he has been very active in calls for peace in the
Middle East and in seeking unity with the Eastern Orthodox Christians. He has been a controversial figure, due to
his ultra-traditionalist agenda and involvement in WWII. We should specify that at the end of the War
he was barely 18, he had been forcibly drafted at 16 but the only action he ever saw involved
spotting bombing raids and digging trenches. The current Pope, Argentine Francis I has
attracted media attention thanks to his use of social media, simple life style and changes
on Vatican institutions. He has initiated a reform of the Roman Curia,
which is the group of bureaus that assist the Pope in the day-to-day running of the
Roman Catholic Church. He also looked into the affairs of the Vatican
Bank, calling for more financial transparency of its investments. He will be remembered also for his purging
of the high Clergy from individuals found guilty of sexual abuse, a problem that has
marred the image of the Catholic Church for decades. To carry out these reforms Francis has set
up a task force of Cardinals known as ‘C9’. In December 2018, though, Francis had to remove
two cardinals from his very task force, following sexual abuse allegations. But who is exactly a Pope, and what are his
powers? By the way I always use the male pronoun because
all Popes have been male so far, with possibly the exception of legendary ‘Papessa Giovanna’
or ‘Popess’ Joan, but that’s another story. [Caption: Apologies if ‘Popess is not a
word] In early Christianity the Pope was the Bishop
of Rome, but not necessarily the head of the Church. It was a Vth Century Pope, Leo the Great who
introduced the concept of papal primacy. According to Leo, the apostle Peter continued
to speak to the Christian community through his successors, the bishops of Rome. In the XIth Century Pope Gregory VII greatly
expanded the Temporal power of the papacy, in other words their influence over worldly
matters. The power of the papacy was further sanctioned
by the 2nd Council of Lyons, in 1274. But the doctrine of papal primacy was finally
developed at the First Vatican Council in 1870. It reinforced once and for all that
“the Roman church holds the pre-eminence of ordinary power over all the other churches.” This was also the same council that approved
the dogma of papal infallibility on matters of faith. All these steps cemented the authority of
the Pope as a spiritual leader for Catholics, a temporal ruler of his State and a powerful
source of influence over other Catholic powers. An example of this influence is the Treaty
of Tordesillas, 7th of June 1494. This treaty was mediated by Pope Alexander
VI – Pope Borgia – to avoid a war between Spain and Portugal over colonial possessions. The Pope effectively succeeded in splitting
the planet into areas of influence assigned to each of the two naval powers. The Vatican’s Institutions
We have learnt what Popes do, how is the Vatican City State ruled today? The central government is made up of the Pope
and he Roman Curia that assist him in carrying out his responsibilities towards the universal
Church: this is identified as the Holy See. The mission of the Holy See is defined as
announcing the truth of the Gospel of Jesus for the salvation of all humanity and in the
service of peace and justice in favour of all peoples. The Vatican City State has the characteristic
of being an instrument of the independence of the Holy See, and of the Catholic Church,
from any earthly power. The Pope is elected by the Cardinals younger
than eighty, during an assembly called Conclave. The moment the new Pope accepts his election,
he becomes the Sovereign of Vatican City State, an absolute monarch with full legislative,
executive and judicial powers. Popes are assisted in their executive powers
by the Cardinal President of the Pontifical Commission, also known as the President of
the Governorate. The President works closely with the Secretary
General, also a Cardinal, who heads the Secretariat of State and manages relations with foreign
States. In UK terms, the Pope is like our Monarch,
the President is like our Prime Minister and the Secretariat is basically the Foreign Office. In US terms: you rejected the fair rule of
our Monarch some 250 years ago, so the parallel stops to just a President and the Department
of State. The Vatican City State is recognised by all
UN members, and is an active member of international organizations and adheres to international
agreements. In addition to its ruling functions, the City
State hosts some pretty interesting institutions, of which I am going to cover two in particular. The Vatican Observatory, is a scientific research
institute of the Holy See and one of the oldest astronomical institutes in the world. In 1891, Leo XIII formally founded the Vatican
Observatory on a hillside behind the dome of St. Peter’s. At the beginning of the 1930s, the urban growth
was brightening the sky so much that the fainter stars could no longer be studied. That is why the Observatory was relocated
in the Alban Hills southeast of Rome. In 1981, the Observatory expanded to a second
research centre: the Vatican Observatory Research Group (VORG), in Tucson, Arizona. In 1993 the Vatican Observatory and the University
of Arizona inaugurated the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT ) on Mt. Graham,
probably the best astronomical site in mainland US. Vatican scientific research includes the spectral
classification of the stars and the composition of dark clouds from which new stars are born. In addition, the Italian site holds a unique
meteorite collection, from which a knowledge of the early history of the solar system is
being derived. To further prove that the tradition of the
Church can coexist with science, since 1987 the Vatican Observatory collaborates with
the University of Berkeley, California, on a series of seminars bringing together science,
philosophy and theology on the theme of divine action from a scientific perspective. Another little known institution is the Apostolic
Penitentiary. One of the key sacraments of Catholicism is
confession. By confessing your sins to a priest, you can
be absolved of them, provided you carry out the assigned penance. For lesser sins, a series of prayers will
do. But some sins are simply too much for a priest
to forgive. There are five specific sins that require
absolution from the Apostolic Penitentiary, a secretive tribunal which revealed its work
only in January 2009. Three of these sins can only be committed
by the clergy: Nr 1 - Breaking the secrecy of confession. Nr 2 – Offering confession to one’s sexual
partner … which should not be there in the first place as Catholic clergy make a vow
of chastity. Nr 3 – Participating in an abortion and
then studying to become a priest. Other two can be committed by anyone, and
they are: Desecrating the Eucharist. This is the commemoration of the Last Supper
via the Holy Communion, a rite in which bread and wine represent the body and blood of Christ. This sin is featured prominently in the novel
The Exorcist. Attempting to assassinate the Pope. I don’t need to explain that, do I? There is another little visited place in the
Vatican, the legendary Secret Archives, said to conceal proof of existence of demons and
aliens … but more on that later. Now, let’s consider this question: if we
were to attempt an invasion of the Vatican, who would try and stop us? The Smallest Army in the World
Logically, the World’s smallest country is defended by the World’s smallest military:
the Swiss Guard. This elite corps, numbering around 150 troops,
has protected the Popes since 1506. These soldiers are mostly known for their
ceremonial role during official receptions and visits, where they can be seen marching
in impressively coloured uniforms, almost unchanged since the XVIth Century. The Swiss Guard does not shun modern equipment,
though, such as modern 3D-printed helmets, firearms and pepper spray. In addition to ceremonial duties, these soldiers
perform concrete security tasks: they guard the access entrances to the Vatican and act
as bodyguards to the Pope, even accompanying him on international travels. These soldiers may look like extras at a Renaissance
fair, but they are well trained fighters, and joining their ranks is not easy. Here are the criteria to be a Swiss Guard,
see if you could be one of them. Are you:
Male, aged 19 to 26? Single? Swiss? At least 1,76 metres tall? [5 ft 9 in]
Do you hold an apprenticeship or post-secondary degree? Are you a Catholic, with an irreproachable
reputation? Have you successfully completed military school
in Switzerland? That’s 18 weeks of basic training, followed
by seven recalls of 3 weeks each, for a total of 260 days. Finally, are you ready to serve at least 26
months? If the answer is ‘yes, to all of the above!’,
then you are welcome to join the ranks of the Swiss Guard, with a basic pay of 20,000
USD per year, board and lodging provided by the State. This basic pay is OK if you are 20, but still
low for Swiss standards. This, plus the restrictive requirements, have
caused recruitment numbers to dwindle. That is why, recently Pope Francis has allowed
all soldiers of the Guard to marry, a privilege previously allowed only to Officers. Troopers must have served for at least five
years, though, before being allowed to start a family. A lesser known security force within the City
State is the Vatican Gendarmerie. This corps was originally founded by Pope
Pius VII on the 14th of July 1816. After several changes, their duties were solidified
by John Paul II in July 2002. They encompass security and public order,
all regular police duties, border control, crime prevention and investigation, and enforcement
of financial and commercial regulations. The Gendarmerie is made up of 130 to 150 officers
who have jurisdiction over the entire territory of the Vatican, except for the Pope’s personal
residence, the Apostolic Palace, which is patrolled by the Swiss Guard. They also cooperate with the Guard when it
comes to protecting the Pope, at home and abroad. The Gendarmerie’s patrols in touristic spots
see plenty of action, as they have to constantly apprehend pickpockets. In some cases, the Gendarmerie has conducted
more high-profile investigations. On the 23rd of May 2012 the Gendarmes arrested
Paolo Gabriele, personal butler to Benedict XVI, accused of stealing and leaking to the
press some classified documents belonging to the Pope. These documents, concerned alleged corruption
within the City State. According to Gabriele, the Pope was completely
non-implicated and unaware of these attempts to corrupt Vatican officials. Unlike the Swiss Guard, the Gendarmes dress
in modern blue uniforms and are equipped with Glock and Beretta handguns as well as Heckler
and Koch assault rifles. The requisites to entry are very similar to
the ones for the Swiss Guard, except you have to be Italian. New recruits are given a crash course of two
months, during which they only have one hour of leave. Those who want to specialise in SWAT techniques,
can join the Gendarmerie’s Rapid Intervention Group, which trains regularly with the 9th
Parachute Regiment, a sort of SAS of the Italian Army. So, if you were to invade, you would have
to overcome the stiff resistance of 300 well-trained, well-armed personnel. After the battle, you may gain access to the
most secretive places of the City State. The Secrets of the Vatican
Earlier on I have alluded at the Secret Archives of the Vatican, and the mysteries it may hold,
including documents on the existence of extraterrestrials and demons. I have to confess that I may have exaggerated. [Caption: That is going to cost you two Our
Fathers and five Hail Marys, son] These are unsubstantiated claims and the truth
of the secret archives is much more prosaic. First of all, the archives are not ‘secret’. Their official name
in Latin is Archivum Secretum Apostolicum Vaticanum. But ‘Secretum’ in Latin does not mean
‘secret’, rather ‘personal’ or ‘private’. The archives are in fact made up of the private
letters and historic records of past Popes over the past centuries. But the specimens within the Archives are
no less interesting. Among its ‘gems’, a validated scholar
can find a scroll containing the minutes of the trials of the Knights Templar, which ended
with the destruction of the Order in 1314. Or notes relating to another trial, the one
against Galileo in 1633. Personal correspondence from past Popes includes
a letter from Clement XII to the Seventh Dalai Lama, requesting protection for Franciscan
missionaries in Tibet. And letters sent by both US Civil War leaders,
Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, who in 1863 wrote to Pious IX, asking for legitimacy
of the Union or Confederacy causes. I expect he replied with
‘Non Subscribo’ [Caption: Unsubscribe]
In truth, some of the personal notes are yet to be declassified. These include the correspondence of Pious
XII, the controversial ‘Hitler’s Pope’. Francis I may declassify these document in
the near future, which will reveal whether he was complicit to the persecution of the
Jews or if he actively protected them during the War. This is just one of the unsolved mysteries
housed within the Vatican Walls. On the 29th of September, 1978 recently elected
Pope John Paul I was found dead in his bed, after only 33 days in office. Vatican officials claimed that the 65-year-old
had died of a heart attack, but there has never been an autopsy. Almost immediately, conspiracy theories linked
this death to a Mafia hit. At the time, the Vatican definitely had ties
to organized crime: in 1982, the president of the Vatican Bank Cardinal Paul Marcinkus
resigned from his post after a series of scandals exposed the bank's ties to the Mafia. The Cardinal was never indicted of a crime,
although was suspected of being involved in the mysterious death of John Paul I, who had
announced his intention of ‘cleaning up’ the Vatican Bank. Marcinkus successfully claimed diplomatic
immunity in the United States, retired to Arizona in 1990 and died there in 2006. A fictionalised version of this story is a
major plot point in The Godfather Part III. John Paul’s is not the only mysterious death
within the Vatican. On May 4, 1998, Colonel Alois Estermann was
named commander of the Pope’s Swiss Guard. A few hours later, the Colonel, his wife Gladys
Meza Romero and a young Swiss Guard, Cédric Tornay, were found dead in Estermann’s flat
in the Vatican City. The official version was that the disgruntled
Tornay had killed his commander and his wife, before committing suicide. This version was disputed by Tornay’s mother
and her lawyers who claimed a cover up. An independent autopsy found that Tornay had
died from a 7mm bullet wound, while his service handgun had a 9mm calibre. What had really happened? According to the lawyers, this was a triple
homicide part of a power struggle within the Vatican, linked to an assassination attempt
on John Paul II, foiled by Estermann. Another theory was brought to light by Antonino
Arconte, a former commando of the NATO secret ‘Stay Behind’ organisation, also known
as Gladio. Gladio agents were under-cover operatives
tasked with staging guerrilla actions in case of a Soviet invasion of Western Europe. Arconte claims to have met with Estermann
shortly before his death, and that the Colonel was actually a former spy of the Stasi, the
East German secret police, infiltrated within the Vatican. Codename: “Werder”. Estermann had promised to Arconte some revelations
about the failed attempt on John Paul II’s life. It seems like the shooter, Ali Agca, was a
pawn of the Bulgarian Secret Services, in turn manipulated by the KGB. The Soviets were concerned about the Polish
Pope’s influence on anti-communist movements in Eastern Europe. Estermann feared for his life because of this,
and other secrets, and was planning to flee Italy. He didn’t make it. These theories have never been substantiated,
and the official version still stands. The story, however, is proof of how not even
the Vatican is immune from murder and sinister forces. Somebody who deals with truly dark forces
is the Vatican’s chief exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth. Before his death in 2016, Father Amorth claimed
to have expelled more than 300 demons a year from his Vatican office. Father Amorth experienced victims of possession
levitate in mid-air, and vomiting pieces of iron, shards of glass and nails. In one occasion, the Devil, speaking through
a possessed woman, boasted that he would make her spit a radio. And she actually started regurgitating it,
one piece at the time. Amorth was a controversial figure in life,
attributing the wave of sex scandals in the Church to the Antichrist, who was waging war
on the Holy See. But despite his firm belief in supernatural
dark forces, he always stressed that most cases of satanic possession are symptoms of
psychiatric illness. He admitted that only about 100 of the cases
he treated involved a genuine possession, referring all the others to the expert care
of psychiatric doctors. Fascinating character, maybe one for our sister
channel Biographics? Little known facts on well-known art
What we haven’t covered so far are the architectural and artistic marvels of the Vatican City,
definitely one of the most astonishing tourist attractions in the World. The most famous spots are of course St Peter’s
Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. St Peter’s is so well known that I don’t
need to describe it to you. When you go there prepared to feel dwarfed
by its size. If you look at this bronze canopy built by
architect Bernini, you would say, ‘yeah, it’s kind of tall, big deal’, but you
could not tell that it is actually as tall as a 10 stories building. And this is because it sits underneath the
‘Cupola’, the dome, 452 ft tall [136 metres] and 138 ft [42 metres] in diameter. Also, look out for one of Michelangelo’s
masterpieces, the sculpture ‘La Pietá’, depicting the dying Jesus in Mary’s arms. See if you can spot the exact point where
Mary’s arm was broken. In 1972, a mentally-disturbed man named Laszlo
Toth attacked the sculpture with a hammer; he broke Mary’s nose and arm at the elbow. The sculpture was restored and now, it’s
the only work of art in the Basilica protected by bullet-proof glass. Finally, make sure you don’t miss the underground
section underneath the main altar, where you can visit the tombs of famous Popes, including
the one of St. Peter himself. In 1953, a set of bones were found in that
spot. Testing revealed they belonged to a man in
his 60s, just like Peter at the time of martyrdom. The bones had remnants of purple thread, a
colour that only would have been used to wrap the body of someone who was seen as royal,
or holy. The Sistine Chapel, after Sixtus IV, hosts
the Conclave for the election of the Pope. Here the Cardinals are kept in complete lockdown,
until the new head of the Church. It is also home to Michelangelo’s genius. In 1508 Julius II commissioned Michelangelo
with frescoing the ceiling. And in 1533, the artist returned to paint
the iconic Last Judgement, depicting the glorious return of Christ. What is surprising about Michelangelo’s
masterpiece is that the ceiling of the Chapel was his first ever experience of painting
a Fresco! In fact, in his first stab at it, he completely
botched the mixture of paint and lime, resulting in mould growing over his paintings. But he got good at it, finding the right mix
and even inventing an innovative system of scaffolding still in use today. But why did he accept the job if this wasn’t
his forte? It seems like he was recommended for the job
by another artist, Bramante. This was a rival of Michelangelo, and his
recommendation was not intended to favour him, but rather to set him for failure to
humiliate him with the Pope. As we can all admire today, it didn’t work. Ite, Missa Est
I hope you enjoyed today’s exploration, please don’t clog the comments with stuff
we have missed, we know we missed it, but we had to skip a lot to fit the format. Let us know instead if you would like to know
more about some of the characters or subjects we brushed today, and why, and I might make
a video about it. After all, like the Gendarmes, I am used to
having just one hour of leave every two months.
