1929: Vatican City becomes a sovereign state, the Lateran Treaty between the Vatican and Mussolini

It is important to know about the Church’s history because of its significance on those times and nowadays. In the XIX century, a problem occurred between Italy and the Vatican City that later in 1929 with the Lateran Treaty is solved, representing a benefit for the Vatican, because the treaty restored all their power and with this, the Vatican is independent
The Vatican is what is known as an ecclesiastical state ruled by the Pope. It is a walled, sovereign territory located in Rome, Italy. It has a population of 800 individuals, and is an area of approximately 440,000 m². The Vatican City is considered the main Episcopal See of about 1.2 billion Catholics around the world.
Italy, before the XX century, was divided in many independent states as Naples, Modena, the Papal States, the duchies of Parma, the kingdom Sardinian-Piedmontese and Tuscany. But then, Italy unified as a country and for that they take some of the pile of lands that belonged to the Vatican. The Italian state was probably “invading” the Vatican because it was an independent state like the others, and their lands supposedly cannot be taken. But the Italian state took lands from the Vatican not only for the unification, also they take their lands because Garibaldi -the leader of the Italian unification- did not agree with the Church’s power, and, consequently, by having so much lands the Church had a lot of material power. The ones that supported the Vatican in this “invasion” were the Swiss; from there comes the Pope’s Swiss Guard.
After the unification, there were two oppositions: the unified Italian states, and the Vatican/Church that weren’t in the capacity to fight with them.

In 1929, Benito Mussolini, the prime minister of Italy, signed, along with Pope Pius XI, the Lateran Treaty. This treaty gives the Pope the power of the Vatican again, making it an independent state once more. But, it was not the same as in Middle Ages or now, because when the Pope gets the power again, it is known that, effectively, the Vatican was not occupying the same important position that used to have in that time, -when the Pope has control of all Rome- because there were other places inside Rome that were more significant –for people that lived there- than this clerical City.

That’s why the Vatican has their own head of State, that is the Pope, and the Pope delegates his government functions to the State’s Secretary. The Vatican has their own diplomatics –that are the Apostolic Nuncios of the Holy See- as any other country.
It’s important to know why the Vatican is an independent state inside Italy. This would help you to understand and know better this religion, and also get some fundamental knowledge that would help you in any occasion of your life.