Vatican · 75th founding anniversary of Vatican City

The creation of the territory of Vatican City (Vatikanstadt) dates back to the so-called Roman Question. Until 1870, the popes ruled the Papal States, which at times encompassed large parts of central Italy. During Italian unification, troops of the Kingdom of Italy occupied Rome. Pope Pius IX did not recognize the loss of his temporal rule and henceforth regarded himself as a “prisoner in the Vatican”. Relations between the Italian state and the Holy See (Heiliger Stuhl) remained unresolved for decades.

This conflict was ended by the Lateran Treaties. They were signed on 11 February 1929 by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri on behalf of Pope Pius XI and by Benito Mussolini on behalf of the Kingdom of Italy. The agreements consisted of a political treaty, a concordat on the position of the Catholic Church in Italy, and a financial convention. Italy recognized the sovereignty of the newly created small state; the Holy See, in turn, recognized the Kingdom of Italy with Rome as its capital.

The Vatican City State and the Holy See are not legally the same. The Holy See is the governing authority of the Catholic Church and maintains diplomatic relations with other states. Vatican City provides it with an independent territory. The head of state is the pope. In addition to St. Peter’s Square and the Vatican palaces, the territory includes administrative buildings, museums, and gardens. Some ecclesiastical institutions in Rome have a special status regulated by treaty, but do not belong to the actual state territory.

St. Peter’s Basilica (Petersdom) refers to the religious function of the site and to the seat of the pope; the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome, however, is the Basilica of Saint John Lateran (Lateranbasilika). The depiction of the territorial boundaries also relates to the core of the Lateran Treaties: the creation of a clearly defined sovereign territory.

The anniversary provided an occasion for a coin because state independence forms the basis for Vatican City to issue its own coins. It mints euro coins on the basis of a monetary agreement, although it is neither Italy nor a member of the European Union.