MondayVatican
Benedict XVI, the Green Pope: this has been the name often used to call Joseph Ratzinger since he is Pope. He has paid much attention to the topic of environment since his very first speech. He wrote about it in the encyclical Caritas in veritate. He dedicated to this topic the 2010 World [...]
The Holy See has always had a special relationship with Italy. First of all, the Pope lives in Rome. Second, it has a detailed agreement with the Italian Government -partly regarding also those ecclesiastic properties in Piedmont that were confiscated 150 years ago after the Italian Unification.
Third, Italian politicians hold a substantial influence [...]
Every year, the 18th of February, a ceremony is given in the Italian Embassy to the Holy See to commemorate the agreements between Italy and Holy See (Patti Lateranensi, 11th of February 1929; and the revision of Patti Lateranensi, 18th of February 1984). The protocol of the ceremony is very strict. First step, a [...]
What do Universities of Padua, Bologna, Louvain, Paris, Prague and Oxford have in common? They all come from “the heart of the Church”. John Paul II explained it in the Pastoral Constitution Ex corde ecclesiae, written in 1990. Looking hindsight, the decision of John Paul II to write this Pastoral Constitution (considered the [...]
John Paul II will be beatified on May the 1st. It was a controversial beatification: many wanted to suspend the judgment about the beatification. Two cardinals (Angelo Sodano, former Secretay of State, and Leonardo Sandri, now Prefect of the Congregation of Oriental Churches) decided not to testify in the [...]
On 11th of February 1929, an historic treaty was signed between the Italian Government and the Vatican re-establishing the political power and diplomatic standing of the Catholic Church, which had been lost when Italy seized Rome, the last of Papal States, on September 20th, 1870.
Every year, on February the 11th, Osservatore [...]
Does the Vatican still have any International weight?
If you look at its whole diplomatic network, spread all over the world, the answer would be yes. The last time Pope Benedict met his ambassadors, their number was of 178 diplomats and two special relationships. As for the number of diplomatic relations, the Holy See [...]
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