Roman Question


Roman Question:

see Lateran TreatyLateran Treaty,
concordat between the Holy See and the kingdom of Italy signed in 1929 in the Lateran Palace, Rome, by Cardinal Gasparri for Pius XI and by Benito Mussolini for Victor Emmanuel III. One of the important negotiators was Cardinal Pacelli, later Pope Pius XII.
..... Click the link for more information.
.

Roman Question

 

a conflict between the Vatican and the Italian state, arising from the elimination in 1870 of the Papal States, the territory of which became part of the Kingdom of Italy during the unification of Italy. In 1871, Rome became the capital of Italy. Pope Pius IX refused to recognize the unified Italian state and the Law of Guarantees of the Prerogatives of the Supreme Pontiff and of the Holy See (the Law of Guarantees). Issued by the Italian government on May 13, 1871, the law was intended to regulate relations between the Italian state and the papacy.

For many years the Vatican struggled against the Italian state, seeking the restoration of the Papal States and the temporal power of the pope, goals it hoped to gain with the assistance of major European powers. Although the Vatican’s hopes were ill-founded, Catholic powers, including France and Austria, exploited the Roman Question for their own political ends. The conflict between the Vatican and the Italian state was resolved in 1929, with the conclusion of the Lateran Treaty.