So, the Papal States used to rule most of central Italy (the Popes had been based in Rome, for the
most part, since the city had an empire), but today the last remnant of their country, Vatican
City, consists of less than a square mile of land in the center of the Italian capital. So then,
what happened to the Papal States? What caused it to shrink? And why did one tiny piece survive?
Well, the Papal States emerged in the 8th century out of the declining Eastern Roman or Byzantine
Empire’s territories in Italy. Over the course of the next millennium—which covered the tenures
of about 150 Popes—the Papal States, like most countries in Italy, which was not yet united,
had ever shifting borders. At times it controlled barely anything outside of Rome
and the surrounding countryside while later Popes owned places even outside of Italy.
Avignon, in southern France, was a Papal exclave for nearly 500 years, and for a few decades in
the 14th century the Popes lived there instead of in Rome. All the while, the Catholic Church,
as it does today, owned property and extended its influence across the world,
mostly elsewhere in Europe, and later the Americas, but the beginning of the end for
the Papal States also originated outside of the Italian peninsula, with the French revolution.
Early revolutionaries were content to annex only Avignon in 1791, but as Europe descended
into the War of the First Coalition (basically everyone v France round 1) a young French general
named Napoleon Bonaparte led an invasion of Italy. He seized the northern Papal States,
which would then become a part of a short-lived French puppet, the Cisalpine Republic. The rest,
headed by Pope Pius VII, came under the influence of the French, but the Pope was
constantly butting heads with Napoleon, who had risen to be France’s First Consul, and in 1804,
Emperor, over the church’s rights in France, which had been curtailed since the revolution.
By 1809 Napoleon had had enough. He annexed the Papal States outright and exiled Pius VII.
That was after he had presided over Napoleon’s coronation.
Of course, the First French Empire didn’t last, and the Congress of Vienna, a summit attended
by all of Europe’s great powers which redrew the continent’s borders post-Napoleon, chose
to reestablish the Catholic Church’s rule over all of the Italian territories it had held before the
French Revolution, though France did keep Avignon. But the temporary toppling of French monarchy,
and the devastating wars that followed, had set Europe ablaze as radical new ideas, most prominent
among them liberalism and nationalism, spread outwards from France. In Italy, which was still
split into several states, that resulted in calls for political unification, and there were some,
who, as Italians were predominantly Catholic, saw the Pope as the obvious choice to be leader
of the prospective new country. Unfortunately for them, while it was initially quite a popular idea,
reality soon caught up with neo-Guelphism and eroded it’s support. Pope Pius IX was
a reactionary, he had no interest in abiding by liberal principles, and so when push came
to shove very few ordinary Italians were willing to rally around him or the Church as unifiers.
In 1848 revolution again broke out across Europe, including in the Papal States.
It briefly became the Republic of Rome led by, among others, Giussepe Mazzini,
before troops of the 2nd French Republic restored the Pope. By the end of 1849 it
had become clear that Italy, if it was going to unify at all, would do it under the leadership
of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia and its royal house of Savoy. Which is exactly what
ended up happening. By 1866 Piedmont-Sardinia, which now called itself the Kingdom of Italy
looked like this, but they couldn’t take Rome. Why? Well because France still said so,
but four years later they became busy fighting Germans, not by the way for the last time, and so
they had to withdraw their forces from the Papal States. Italy then marched in virtually unopposed.
So, with no one left to protect the Pope’s country, why did Vatican city remain under his
rule? Well Pius IX, who was still Pope, holed up in the Vatican and was rather obstinate in
his refusal to surrender. That put Italy in something of a rock and hard place situation.
They wanted the bit of Rome they didn’t yet control, but they couldn’t risk alienating
Catholic Italians by being too mean to Pius IX and storming the Vatican. So, stalemate.
For sixty years, Popes, of which there were five, remained behind the walls of the Vatican
and refused to recognize Italian authority. All the while, Italy claimed the Pope as a subject,
albeit with some unusual privileges. But then something fairly rare in history happened:
a Fascist came along and resolved a problem. Peacefully.
Benito Mussolini became Prime Minister of Italy in 1925, and, looking to make himself a bit more
popular among Catholics, he recognized the Pope’s authority over the Vatican, which would become a
new microstate via the Lateran Treaty. Italy also handed over a chunk of cash as reparations for
lost Papal territory. For his part, Pius XI agreed to recognize Italy as a legitimate country with
Rome as its capital and to be neutral on issues of Italian politics. He became Vatican City’s
first sovereign, and the first Pope to step foot outside of it since the end of the Papal States.
In the 90 years following the Lateran Treaty, despite regime change in Italy,
a tiny city with global influence existing in the heart of Rome has stayed the status quo.
If you enjoyed this video don’t forget to subscribe and hit the notification
bell below so you don’t miss the next one, and as always,
I’ve been James and thank you for watching Look Back History.