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How Does The Vatican Work? (History of the Papal States)
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Mar 31, 2025
In this video I talk about the history of Vatican City. How the Papacy established itself in Rome, how it grew into the large and powerful Papal States, and how it transformed itself into the Vatican State we know today. Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GKonYoutube Become a member on Patreon & get exclusive content! https://www.patreon.com/generalknowledge Special mention to my patrons: Richard, Jeseenya, Francis, Edward, Stephen, MiFE, Rpgkillerspace, Wilhelm, Roland, Rami, Juan, Bruno, Albert, Lastmatix, Kalvin, Francisco, Tom, 43rpak, Chet, Ryan Keith, ou_lyss, Borton, Ryan McMurry, Pete, Cesar, Hendrick. Join the Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/f4neAVWZfF Business Contact: [email protected] Thanks for watching, remember to subscribe to catch future videos!
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Vatican City, the smallest sovereign state in the world, with an area of only 0.44 square kilometers
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and a population of around 825 people. Smallest both in size and in population, although 18 million
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people visit every year, so it tends to be quite busy. The largest building in the world, by
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footprint, the Alsmier Flower Auction in the Netherlands, is bigger at 0.5 square kilometers
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a country is smaller than this building. It's the headquarters of Catholicism, ruled by the Pope
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who is the Bishop of Rome and the Supreme Leader of the Catholic Church worldwide. An elective
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absolute monarchy. The Vatican mints its own euros, prints its own stamps, issues passports
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license plates, operates media outlets and has its own flag and anthem. But why do they get to
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be a specific sovereign state? This is something we don't see for other religions, at least that I
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know of. It mostly has to do with the power and importance of Christianity, the Pope and the Holy
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See itself throughout history. I will focus on the Vatican as a state in this video and not very much
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in the religious aspect, that would be a whole other topic. So in this video I want to try and
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understand 1. how the papacy came to exist in the first place and how it established itself in Rome
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and the Vatican. 2. how it gained power and influence from the Pope's role as the King of
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kings in the medieval times to the great control that the papal states had over part of Italy
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And three, how it lost much of that influence, power and territory especially, but how it remained
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sovereign and obviously still powerful and influential, even if with much less dimension
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creating the Vatican City as we know it today. This is a little bit of a longer video, so I
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divided it into nine chapters. You can check the description for timestamps if you just want to
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skip ahead to any of them. The name Vatican was already in use in the time of the Roman Republic
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for the Agar Vaticanus, an area of marshes on the west bank of the Tiber River across from the city
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of Rome. It was uninhabited, but as time went on, Roman emperors began draining the waters and
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building there. And it is in the Roman Empire that its origins lie. When a great fire leveled much of
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Rome in the year 64, Emperor Nero, seeking to shift blame from himself, accused the Christians
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of having caused it. Many of them were burned and crucified, one of which being Saint Peter
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supposed disciple of Jesus and leader of the apostles, as well as being the first bishop of
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Rome. Emperor Caligula then built gardens and circuses in this area, adding the famous Vatican
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obelisk, ordering it to be brought from Egypt, where it had been built for Pharaoh over 3,000
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years ago. In 1586, it was moved to the center of the square where it is today. And for its first
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300 years, within the Roman Empire, the church was persecuted and unrecognized, unable to hold any
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territory of its own. Only by the 4th century, with the official recognition of the Christian
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religion in Rome, Emperor Constantine began construction of the original Saint Peter's
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Basilica on top of his supposed ancient burial ground and granting property and power to the
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Pope, one of which being the Lateran Palace in Rome, which became the official papal residency
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for over a thousand years. But at this time, Catholicism wasn't fully dominant yet, and many pagan shrines coexisted
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with the basilica in the area of the Vatican. For example, a shrine dedicated to the Phryngian goddess Cybele
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With the adoption of Catholicism by the Roman Empire, the Pope and Catholic Church gained
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power and influence in the region, which also became more populated with the building of the
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basilica. Eventually, the Roman Empire fell, and the papacy was put under control of the Byzantines
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the Ostrogoths, the Franks, and many others. But regardless of who was technically in charge of
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them and the entire territory, their power grew in Rome and in Italy. In 756, the donation of Pepin
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provided a legal basis for the creation of the papal states, extending the rule of the popes
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beyond the Duchy of Rome. Pepin was a Frankish king who took over northern Italy from the Lombards
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with the support of the papacy, then rewarding this support with territory. A few years later
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in 781, Charlemagne officially established which regions the Pope would control. The Duchy of Rome
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Ravenna, the Duchy of the Pentapolis, parts of the Duchy of Benevento, Tuscany, Corsica
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Lombardy, and a number of Italian cities. Although it seems in practice, the Popes were
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unable to exercise effective sovereignty over the extensive and mountainous territories of these
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papal states, and the region preserved its old system of government, with local counts and
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marquis ruling small areas but owing allegiance to the Pope. In exchange, in the year 800, Pope Leo
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crowned Charlemagne as Emperor of the Romans setting the roots for the Holy Roman Empire Now this is all very simplified and each of these events has complicated historical details that I won get into here but what it seems to sum up to is the power of the Pope derived from Catholicism expansion throughout
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Europe, both during and after the fall of the Roman Empire. The people were vastly Catholic
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and they recognized the Pope as their religious leader through the Catholic Church. Because of
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this, military rulers and kings seeked the support of the Pope in order to have the support
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of the people and in exchange for this support, they allow the papacy to exist as its own state
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granting it more power and territory. Next were the times of the Holy Roman Empire
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It's somewhat unclear what the relationship between the empire and the papal states were
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and three options are put forward. One, the papal states were a separate state from the empire
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having full sovereignty. Two, they were a part of the empire, administering their own territory
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but recognizing imperial sovereignty even if this did not please them. Or 3. The Holy Roman
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Emperor ruled Christendom, with the Pope being only directly responsible for Rome and spiritual
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duties. The correct answer might be all of them. The HRE existed for centuries, and its relationship
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with the papacy changed and existed in many forms throughout that time, depending on what was going
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on, which emperor and which Pope ruled, amongst other things. The Holy Roman Empire in its Frankish
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form collapsed and was subdivided among Charlemagne's grandchildren. Imperial power declined in Italy
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at this time and the papacy's prestige declined as well. This led to a rise in the power of the
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local Roman nobility and the temporary control of the papal states by a powerful and arguably
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corrupt aristocratic family, the Theophyllacti. This temporary period was later called as the
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Saeculum Obscurum, the Dark Age. If the fall of the Roman Empire had brought instability to Rome
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the fall of Charlemagne's empire did as well. But soon enough, a new invader would bring about
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more change. In the 10th century, the Germanic conqueror Otto invaded North Italy and once again
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seeked the approval of the Pope with compensation. Pope John XII crowned him emperor and the two of
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them ratified the Diploma Otoniaum, by which the emperor became the guarantee of independence of
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the papal states. But throughout the following years, as the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire
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changed, the empire and the papacy had various conflicts when it came to who effectively ruled
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the papal states and Rome. This was only solved with the Treaty of Venice in 1177. This was a
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peace treaty between the papacy, the Lumbered League and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor. It
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followed Frederick's defeat at the Battle of Legnano and brought about the end of the conflict
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between them. The conflict was so big at this point that the emperor had nominated an anti-pope
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who challenged the actual pope's authority and claimed it as its own. The treaty fully established
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the independence of the papal states and by 1300 many of the other Italian principalities also
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achieved their sovereignty from the empire. After establishing its independence from the Holy
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Roman Empire and consolidating its power over Italy to the vast Papal state, the papacy
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was able to replace their conflict with the Germans with a new rival, France
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Because of a conflict with the French crown, French King Philip IV arrested Pope Bonifest
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VIII. When his successor, Benedict XI died, the French King forced a deadlock, conclave
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to elect a French Cardinal Clement V as Pope. This was in 1305. Clement refused to move
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to Rome, and in 1309, he moved the papacy to the papal exclave at Avignon, where it remained for
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the next 67 years. We can see the exclave here on this map. The city was officially part of the papal
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state's territory, which was reasonably large at this point. Avignon actually remained a papal
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possession for around 400 years, even after the popes returned to Rome, until it was seized and
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incorporated into France during the French Revolution. A total of seven popes reigned at
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Avignon, all French, and all under the influence of the French crown. And this papal absence almost
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led to the collapse of the papal states in Italy. Local despots began to take advantage of the
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absence of the popes to establish themselves as the rulers in the papal cities even more than
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before. And it seems that throughout the existence of the papal states, the papacy's effective rule
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over cities and lands was always questionable. They mostly decided who ruled them in their name
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save some exceptions, while effective rule was done locally. But the church was still present
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and they saw these local despots as threats to the Papal sovereignty, so they rallied armies
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and were able to re-establish Papal sovereignty and even pave the way for a more direct control
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Here is how. Six books of law, essentially the first Papal States Constitution in 1357
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And under it the Papal States were divided into five provinces the Duchy of Spoleto the March of Ancona Romagna the Patrimony of St Peter and the Campan and Maritime Province Each of them fell under the direction of a rector appointed personally
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by the Pope, and this ended the mosaic of local rule which saw its climax during the
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Avignon Papacy. Only by 1376 did Gregory XI finally move back to Rome, but by this time
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the papal states were once again solid, and even more in control of their Italian land
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The Papal Constitution seeked to enforce more direct papal control over the papal states
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but it wasn't very successful. Directors were appointed by the pope, but local rules sometimes still fell under the
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control of local princes from noble families. Only in the 16th century did the pope obtain full direct control over its territories
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However, despite all their issues with the French and with the HRE over who controlled
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Rome, they always held important power throughout all of the Christian kingdoms of Europe
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brought with it, the idea of anointed kings, meaning kings that had the Catholic Church's
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stamp of approval. This approval was ultimately decided by the Pope. For instance, Portugal was
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only officially an independent kingdom when it was recognized by Pope Alexander III as such in 1179
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They also held the right to excommunicate people, including kings, removing their religious approval
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of their rule. During the Renaissance, the papal territory expanded even more, especially under
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popes Alexander VI and Julius II. The pope became one of Italy's most important rulers
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not only as head of the church, but also as a ruler of a powerful state, politically and
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militarily. In the 16th century alone, they were involved in three major wars, and Pope Julius II
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was known as the warrior pope. The conflict with the Holy Roman Empire also made a comeback
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if it was ever really gone. In 1527, Emperor Charles V sacked Rome and imprisoned Pope Clement
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the 7th. Because of this, the Pope was forced to give up Parma, Modena and several smaller
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territories, even though they did recover some of them later on. At its greatest extent in the 18th
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century, the papal states included most of central Italy, Latium, Umbria, March and the legations of
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Ravenna, Ferrara and Wallona extending north into Romagna. And then came Napoleon, to mix everything
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up as he did everywhere else in Europe. In 1796, the French invaded Italy and seized papal territories
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in the north, which became part of the Cisopin Republic. But the French Empire under Napoleon
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invaded again in 1808, and this time, the remainder of the Papal States were annexed
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to France, forming the Departments of Tiber and Trasimene of the French Empire. Finally
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with the fall of the Napoleonic system in 1814, the Congress of Vienna officially restored the
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Italian territories of the Papal States, with it regaining its full independence, being internally
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divided into 17 apostolic delegations, which were then grouped up into five major ones
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Romagna, March, Umbria, Maritigma and Campana and Lazio. It seemed that finally the Pope's power
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over central Italy was consolidated, organized and validated by an international agreement
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But after issues with the Germans and the French came a conflict within Italy itself
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Italian patriotism had been rising during the Napoleonic period and while the Congress of
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Vienna that followed Napoleon's fall mostly restored the old borders of Italy's kingdoms
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along with the Papal States' borders, the desire for unification was not gone. In fact, in 1849
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a Roman Republic was declared and Pope Pius IX had to flee the city. Until it was retaken with
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French help, the Papal States were temporarily ruled by a group of cardinals called the Red
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Triumvirate. But stability did not return with the return of the Pope to Rome. Throughout all of
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Italy, wars were waged between the kingdoms, monarchies were overthrown by Garibaldi, and the
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people themselves began to revolt as they had done in Rome. In 1860, much of the land was already
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in rebellion against papal rule and Sardinia-Piemont conquered the eastern two-thirds of the papal
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states. While considerably reduced, the papal states nevertheless still controlled the Latium
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region, but not for long. The unified kingdom of Italy was declared in 1861, with Rome being
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declared the capital of the new kingdom. However, the new Italian government could not take possession
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of the city because a French garrison still protected the pope. But, in 1870, the French
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went to war with Prussia and had to recall their garrison, which opened a door for Italian annexation
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of the capital. The Pope refused and so Italy declared war and sieged Rome, reaching the Aurelian
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Walls, built by Emperor Aurelian in 271. The city was captured soon after. Rome and what was left of
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the Papal States was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy after a referendum and this marked the end
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of the Papal States as a sovereign state. The Italians attempted to integrate the Holy See
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into Italy, putting forth a law of guarantees that assured certain rights and powers to the papacy But the pope refused again claiming they were independent and would not submit to a foreign powers law The Holy See confined itself in the Apostolic Palace on Vatican Hill the official residence of the Pope up to today It was only in 1929 almost 60 years
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later, that this issue was resolved through the Lateran Treaty. The treaty recognized Vatican City
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as an independent state under the sovereignty of the Holy See not to be integrated with Italy
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The Italian government also agreed to give the Roman Catholic Church financial compensation for
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the loss of the Papal States' territory. This brought peace between the two states and the
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needed stamp of approval of the Catholic Church to the Italian regime at the time
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Just like with Charlemagne or Otto, the Pope seems to once again have reached an agreement
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with an external ruling power in exchange for its internal sovereignty. The Papal States had
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practically ceased to exist in 1871 and on paper they came to an end here in 1929, 1173 years after
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After the donation of Pepin in 1756, which first extended their rule outside of Rome
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the Holy See was once again confined to the city, but to an even smaller territory than
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the ancient Duchy, now only Vatican Hill. The Vatican City State was officially created as we know it today
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So after understanding how the papacy was created, how it gained and lost power throughout
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time, how the papal states were created as well and how they existed, then coming to when end, giving place to the Vatican City, how does it work? Like I mentioned in the beginning
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the Vatican is a theocratic, absolute, elective monarchy. This means that a religious figure
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the Pope, is the absolute ruler, elected by a college of cardinals, a rare case of non-hereditary
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monarchy, where the ruler is chosen after the death or resignation of the previous Pope. When
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two-thirds of the cardinals select a new candidate, he chooses his name and becomes Pope, the leader
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of the Vatican State and the Holy See. But how do these two differentiate themselves from each other
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The term Holy See refers to the composite of the authority, jurisdiction and sovereignty vested in the Pope and his advisors to direct the worldwide Catholic Church
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It is therefore distinct from the Vatican City-State which merely represents the territory
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For instance, papal diplomats are diplomats of the Holy See. The Vatican has no diplomatic representation itself
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When it comes to the administration of the territory, power is divided as usual into three branches, executive, legislative and judicial
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The Pope technically holds all power, according to the law of the Vatican City State, but in reality, he only exercises his power through other organs and people that act on his behalf
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Legislative authority is given to the Pontifical Commission, a Congress of seven Cardinals, appointed by the Pope in five-year terms
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Laws passed by the Commission must be approved by the Pope through the Secretariat of State prior to being published and taking effect
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The Secretariat of State is like a government, presided by a cardinal Secretary of State
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the equivalent to a Prime Minister, who is also nominated by the Pope. And when it comes to judicial authority, it is exercised through the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura
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However, under the terms of Article 22 of the Lateran Treaty, Italy will, at the request of the Holy See, punish individuals for crimes committed within the Vatican
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They also have no prison system, so people convicted of crimes in the Vatican serve their term in Italian prisons
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with the costs being covered by the Vatican itself. Military-wise, they are a neutral nation
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ever since the Lateran Treaty, only having two internal forces. The Swiss Guard, which seeks to
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guard a pope commanded by the Holy See itself, and the Gendarmerie, which essentially act as the
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Vatican State's police. Two additional forces existed, the Palatinate Guard and the Noble Guard
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infantry and cavalry, formed in 1850 and 1801 respectively. These were active during the
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symbolic resistance to the Italian siege of Rome. They remained in existence after the establishment
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of the Vatican but were disbanded in 1970 in the war-waging times of the Papal States and warrior
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popes are long gone. An interesting fact about the Swiss Guard is that it was initially established
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as a mercenary force. They have been protecting the Pope ever since 1506 when Pope Julius II
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hired one of the Swiss mercenary forces for his personal protection. They use the Euro as their
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currency, being part of the Eurozone, and mint their own coins with figures of the Church
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The Vatican City is one of the few widely recognized states that has not become a member
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of the United Nations. The Holy See, which is, like we saw, distinct from the Vatican State
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has permanent observer status with all the rights of a full member except for a vote in the General
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Assembly. So, that is a very brief explanation of the history of the Vatican and how it works
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how the papacy and the Holy See came to exist and how the state has also existed besides it
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starting as the Duchy of Rome, under the control of the Pope, establishing itself as the Papal
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State, suffering various territorial changes and even occupations, until eventually reforming itself
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as the Vatican City-State as it is today. Thanks so much for watching this video
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Subscribe if you want and leave a comment if you noticed any mistakes or have any additional
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information about this. I will see you next time for more general knowledge
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