The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Lateran Treaty

a treaty between the the Italian state and the Vatican, defining the rights and privileges of the Catholic Church and its position in the Italian state. It resulted in the legal settlement of conflicting claims and the elimination of the Roman Question, which had existed since 1870.

The Lateran Treaty was signed on Feb. 11, 1929, in the Lateran apostolic palace (Palazzo Laterano). It consists of an agreement, a financial convention, and a concordat. The agreement recognizes Catholicism as the “sole religion of the state” of Italy (art. 1) and the “sovereignty of the Holy See in international affairs” (art. 2); it provides for the formation of a Vatican state, the boundaries of which are defined by a map attached to the agreement (art. 3). A number of articles regulate administrative issues, the status of the Vatican citizenry, and the status of the diplomatic corps attached to the Holy See. The financial convention stipulates payment by Italy of 750 million lire in 5 percent securities to the Holy See (art. 1); in exchange the Holy See renounces the financial claims against Italy that had resulted from the formation of the Italian state (art. 2). The concordat defines the rights and privileges of the Catholic Church in Italy. The state declares as nonworking days ten church holidays, as well as Sundays (art. 11); the bishops pledge to take an oath of loyalty to the head of state (art. 20). Other articles provide for involving the clergy on a broad scale in the Italian educational system and for recognizing the Catholic Action movement. During the fascist dictatorship in Italy (1922–43) the treaty secured the Vatican’s support of the fascist regime.

Even today the treaty defines the legal relations between the state and the Catholic Church in Italy in accordance with Article 7 of the Constitution of 1947 of the Italian Republic.

Democratic forces in Italy are leading a struggle for revision of the treaty. In 1969 the Chamber of Deputies adopted a law permitting divorce; this law, in effect, abolished Article 34 of the concordat.

DOCUMENTS

Enciclopedia del Papato. Catania, 1961.

REFERENCES

Koval’skii, N. A. Katolitsizm i diplomatiia. Moscow, 1969.
Korovin, E. A. Katolitsizm kak faktor sovremennoi mirovoi politiki. Moscow-Leningrad, 1931.
Sheinman, M. M. Vatikan mezhdu dvumia mirovymi voinami. Moscow, 1948.

N. A. KOVAL’SKII

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References in periodicals archive

It only became truly independent in 1929 when the Lateran Treaty was signed between Benito Mussolini and Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Gaspari.

Inside the Vatican; power, pATroNAGe AND pILeS oF CASH

The Vatican is a geographical territory, a city-state ceded to the Roman Catholic church as an independent territory by the Lateran Treaty of 1929.

God's voice

This ended in 1929, when the Lateran Treaty recognized Vatican City as a mini-state (small independent nation) and the Pope as its sovereign.

Inside the Vatican's walls: how a spiritual center became a country

For six decades the Vatican and the Kingdom of Italy entered into stalemate until the "Roman Question" was legally resolved by the Lateran Treaty in 1929.

Rome in America: Transnational Catholic Ideology from the Risorgimento to Fascism

The most important concordat of the 1920s was the Lateran Treaty of 1929 with fascist Italy, in which the Vatican recognized the Kingdom of Italy with Rome as its capital and Italy recognized the pope's full sovereignty over the 109-acre Vatican City.

Pope pius xi and the jewish question

The tension between the Holy See and Italy grew to be intolerable and was not resolved until the Lateran Treaty in 1929.

The atypical international status of the Holy See

In 1929, the sovereign state of Vatican City came into existence as copies of the Lateran Treaty were exchanged in Rome.

Today in History

1929: The 109 acres of the Vatican in Rome was made an independent sovereign state under the Lateran Treaty. 1975: Margaret Thatcher (above) became the first woman leader of a British political party, the Conservatives, at the age of 49.

ON THIS DAY

1929: The Papal State, extinct since 1870, was revived as the State of Vatican City in Rome, as a result of the Lateran Treaty. 1945: Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes was premiered at Sadler's Wells, London.

ON THIS DAY IN ..

Provisions of the concordat -known as the Lateran Treaty - were incorporated into the 1947 constitution.

European high court approves crucifixes in public schools

1929: The Papal State, extinct since 1870, was revived as the State of Vatican City in Rome, as a result of the Lateran Treaty. 1946: Television resumed after the war, and announcer Leslie Mitchell said: "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted..." 1989: Peter Shilton made his record 109th appearance for England against Denmark, passing Bobby Moore's long-standing record.

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