FINAL WARNING: Setting the Stage for Destruction
sold, a percentage of the money received at the Shrine of Lourdes was
taken, annulments were sold; and they also raised money by selling
straw from the Pope’s bed, candles, rosaries, and images of the
Madonna. They also tried to raise money in 1868 by establishing the
Peter’s Pence in the United States, a year after the U.S. broke off
diplomatic relations with the Vatican (which were later reestablished in
1984).For years, the Popes ruled a 16,000 square mile area in central Italy,
which was referred to as the Papal States. That was reduced to about
4,891 square miles in 1860 when the Kingdom of Italy was formed. In
September, 1870, Italian troops marched on Rome and ended the
temporal power of the Pope, and limited his sovereignty to the palaces
of the Vatican, the Lateran in Rome, and the villa of Castel Gandolfo.
On February 11, 1929, Cardinal Gasparri and Italian Premier Benito
Mussolini signed the Treaty of Conciliation (known as the Lateran
Agreement), which established the independent state of Vatican City,
and also made Catholicism the official religion of Italy. The agreement
compensated the Vatican for their lost land ($40,000,000), and
transferred about 5% of the government’s bonds (about $50,000,000) to
them. The Lateran Treaty was made part of the Italian Constitution
(Article 7) in 1947.Vatican City in Rome is the world’s smallest independent country,
taking in an area of nearly 109 acres. It includes St. Peters’s Basilica,
which covers an area of 163,200 square feet, making it the world’s
largest church; the Vatican Palace, which has 1,400 rooms, 200
staircases, and is the largest residence in the world; the Vatican
Museum, which sits on thirteen acres, and contains the Sistine Chapel,
where Michelangelo painted his “Last Judgment” on the ceiling;
various buildings between Viale Vaticano and the Church; and the
Vatican Gardens. Thirteen buildings outside the boundaries possess
extraterritorial rights, and house people necessary for the
administration of the Church. The name ‘Vatican,’ means ‘center of
divination.’With a population of 800, about 3,000 employees, and an operating
budget of over $100 million annually, the Vatican is the central
administrative office of the Roman Catholic Church. Here the Pope
wields executive and judicial powers over a religious empire of over