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Vatican City - History |
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The history of the Vatican is a history of power plays, schisms, crusades and inquisitions. For more than 70 years in the 14th century, Rome was pope less. Abandoned because of political instability, the thousand-year-old centre of the Church, founded on the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul, lost not only the prestige of being the home of the papacy, but also the considerable income of tithing Christendom, reducing Rome to extreme poverty. After the return of the papacy, Rome began to strengthen again. Although Rome is now far more self-sufficient, the Vatican is still hugely important to the economic and cultural security of the city.
More recently, scandals and innuendo relating to the Italian Mafia's control over the Vatican have surfaced. Given their reported control over the rest of Italy - the Mafia's estimated worth is about 12% of Italy's gross national product - there seems no reason to suppose that crime organizations don't have connections with the Holy See. Rumours were fuelled when Pope John Paul I died suddenly in 1978 after only 25 days in office, having earlier vowed to break the Mafia's hold over the people of Rome. |
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The
smallest country in the world has a rich, if narrowly focused, history.
Religion, art and construction dominate the region that is now the Holy
See. Politically, the area followed Rome and Italy until 1929, long before
that the region to the northwest of central Rome was inextricably
connected to the Catholic Church. In about 65 AD the Romans were
sacrificing Christians in Nero's Circo Vaticano, and it's probably here
that St Peter - regarded as the first Pope - met his end. About 100 years
later the site was abandoned and a small monument to the martyr was
erected. In 315, Emperor Constantine ordered construction of a basilica on
the apostle's tomb. St Peter's Basilica was consecrated in 326.
A
thousand years after St Peter's Basilica was built it was - not
surprisingly - in a poor state of repair. A new basilica was designed. The
demolition of the old one caused great controversy at the time as it
involved destroying Byzantine mosaics and frescoes by artists, including
Giotto. After 150 years - and with the input of artists like Bramante,
Raphael, Michelangelo and Giacomo della Porta, the basilica was completed.
Most of the kudos for the massive project rests with Michelangelo, who
took it over in 1547, aged 72, and designed the 119m (390ft) dome. The
cavernous interior can hold an amazing 60,000 people. Excavations that
commenced in 1940 under the basilica unearthed remnants of the original
church, a tomb believed to be that of St Peter, and the bones of an
elderly, well-built man. Pope Paul VI declared these bones to be those of
St Peter.
In
the 1870s, during the occupation of Italy by Napoleon III, the papal
soldiers - known as the Swiss Guard - provided the only significant
resistance to the Italian forces as they reclaimed Rome. They refused to
recognise the Kingdom of Italy, so the Pope was stripped of his temporal
powers and evicted from his palace. During the 1920s, Fascist dictator
Benito Mussolini worked to restore the independent papal state, and
autonomy was announced in 1929. The early years of independence saw the
establishment and rapid expansion of the Vatican 'society'. A radio
station was opened by wireless inventor Marconi in the early 1930s, and
the city now has one television station and seven radio stations spreading
Good News to anyone who'll listen.