"Vatican City"; was Re: "The" Philippines

[Page Stephens]

FYI

      Lateran Treaty

Lateran 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. In 1871 the unity of
Italy was perfected by restricting the papal sovereignty to a few buildings
and awarding to Pius IX and his successors an annual indemnity for the lost
Papal States. The Roman Catholic Church never recognized this arrangement
and never accepted the indemnity, and the subsequent popes considered
themselves prisoners in the Vatican. The problems involved were called the
Roman Question, and they were solved by the treaty. It states that Roman
Catholicism is the only state religion of Italy and that Italy recognizes
the new state called Vatican City as fully sovereign and independent. Italy
guarantees Vatican City public services and protection and recognizes as
parts of it certain buildings not actually inside Vatican City. The Italian
government will punish crimes committed within Vatican City, when so
requested, and the Holy See will extradite to Italy persons accused of acts
recognized by both parties as crimes. As to the reestablishment of the canon
law in Italy, matrimony is a sacrament, and banns must be published; nullity
of marriages is a question for the Church, while separations are adjudicated
by the state. Religion is to be taught in primary and secondary schools, and
the Holy See guarantees that Roman Catholic organizations will abstain from
politics. The Italian government is to consider the person of the pope
sacred and inviolable. The Holy See, pursuant to its perpetual mission of
peace, will remain apart from temporal competitions of other states and from
international congresses for peace, unless a unanimous appeal is made to its
mission; the Holy See will use its moral and spiritual power to prevent
warfare when it sees fit. The Holy See announced in the treaty that it had
its proper liberty, that the Roman Question was closed, and that it
recognized the kingdom of Italy under the house of Savoy. The Lateran Treaty
remained in effect after the monarchy was abolished at the end of World War
II. However, a concordate put into effect in 1985 modified the treaty, most
importantly stating that Roman Catholicism is no longer the state religion
of Italy. The sovereignty of Vatican City is still recognized.

Page Stephens

----- Original Message -----
From: "Patty Davies" <patty at CRUZIO.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Monday, April 04, 2005 12:27 PM
Subject: Re: "Vatican City"; was Re: "The" Philippines


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Patty Davies <patty at CRUZIO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Vatican City"; was Re: "The" Philippines
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Thanks for sending this, I have often wondered about it.  but, on my list
> of things to do.........
>
> Patty
>
>
> At 09:13 AM 4/4/05, you wrote:
>>Barbara Need <nee1 at MIDWAY.UCHICAGO.EDU> writes:
>> >>>
>>
>>As a follow-up to this discussion, I just heard "in Vatican City" on
>>CNN's coverage of the events there, rather than "in the Vatican
>>City", which is what I would expect.
>>
>><<<
>>
>>How about "the New York City"?
>>
>>The Vatican is a palace and the seat of government of a sovereign state,
>>as
>>the White House is... a palatial residence for a head of government and
>>the
>>seat of the Executive Branch of that government. "Vatican City", without
>>"the", is the name of the sovereign state of which the Pope is absolute
>>monarch, whose boundaries as far as I remember coincide with those of the
>>city as the boundaries of the District of Columbia coincide with those of
>>the city of Washington.
>>
>>-- Mark A. Mandel
>>[This text prepared with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.]