{"id":450,"date":"2025-04-30T11:11:42","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T03:11:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thisisnicky2001.synology.me\/wordpress\/?p=450"},"modified":"2025-09-04T02:09:36","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T18:09:36","slug":"the-pope-lost-a-country-but-became-a-head-of-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/histourist.com.tw\/wordpress\/2025\/04\/30\/the-pope-lost-a-country-but-became-a-head-of-state\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pope Lost a Country, But Became a Head of State?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Deal Behind the Creation of Vatican City<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of the Pope’s Passing\u2026<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This week, many people around the world are talking about Pope Francis. He was a kind and modern spiritual leader. Because of this news, I wanted to share a story about the Pope\u2014not just as a religious leader, but also as a political figure.

Did you know? Even though the Pope lost a country over 150 years ago, today he is still the head of a tiny state called Vatican City<\/strong>. How did that happen? Let\u2019s go back to the 19th and 20th centuries to understand this strange and important story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

In the Past, the Pope Had a Country<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For over a thousand years<\/strong>, the Pope ruled a real country in central Italy called the Papal States<\/strong>. This country was not small\u2014it included cities like Rome, Bologna, and Ravenna. The Pope was not just a religious leader\u2014he was a king, a judge, and a general.

But in the 1800s, Italy started to become one united country. In 1870<\/strong>, the new Italian government took Rome. The Papal States were gone.

The Pope was very angry. He said:
\u201cI will not accept this. I\u2019m a prisoner in my own palace.\u201d<\/strong>
For almost 60 years, the Popes refused to leave the Vatican or talk to the Italian government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The Lateran Treaty: A Political Deal with Mussolini<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Then, in 1929<\/strong>, something changed. The Pope and Italy\u2019s leader, Benito Mussolini<\/strong>, signed a treaty. It was called the Lateran Treaty<\/strong>.

In this deal:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • The Pope said: \u201cOkay, I accept that Italy owns Rome.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Italy said: \u201cWe will give you a new, small country\u2014Vatican City<\/strong>.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    This new country is only 0.49 km\u00b2<\/strong>\u2014smaller than many city parks! But it\u2019s an independent state. The Pope became a head of state<\/strong> again, with a passport, money, army, and flag.

    So… the Pope lost a big country, but got a new political status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    A Tiny Country With Big Power<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Today, Vatican City is the smallest country in the world. But it has a lot of influence. Why?

    Because over one billion Catholics<\/strong> around the world still follow the Pope. And the Pope can speak about peace, war, climate change, or human rights\u2014and many people listen.

    Even world leaders want to visit the Pope.

    So next time someone says,
    \u201cThe Pope is just a religious leader,\u201d<\/strong>
    you can say,
    \u201cActually, he\u2019s also a head of state\u2014with his own country!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Deal Behind the Creation of Vatican City Because of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/histourist.com.tw\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/histourist.com.tw\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/histourist.com.tw\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/histourist.com.tw\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/histourist.com.tw\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/histourist.com.tw\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":712,"href":"https:\/\/histourist.com.tw\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450\/revisions\/712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/histourist.com.tw\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/histourist.com.tw\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/histourist.com.tw\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/histourist.com.tw\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}