Vatican City Neutrality

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One of the most significant dates in the history of the Vatican is June 7th, 1929, when the Lateran Treaty was put into effect by the signing of Bento Mussolini from the Italian government and Pietro Gasparri from the papacy. The Lateran Treaty established Vatican City as an independent haven for the pope and unified the state of Italy with Rome as it’s capital. The purpose of the Vatican City was meant to be a religious state of Catholic peace. The Lateran Treaty also dictated that the Vatican would declare neutrality during the time of foreign affairs, unless both parties agreed to the situation. During the time of World War II, Pope Pius XII upheld neutrality and remained neutral throughout the war. Even though Pope Pius was neutral during …show more content…

While several distinct advantages and disadvantages have been identified, the declaration of neutrality for the Vatican during the war was a far better option then taking sides with either the Third Reich or the Allied Powers for several reasons. The first reason being that the Vatican is a very small piece of land that lies in the middle of German occupied Rome during most of the war. With Vatican City only being 109 acres, the small territory is automatically put at great risk of getting invaded or being captured by any larger force. For example, let’s say that Vatican City declared themselves as a part of the Allied Powers, because of their location and small size it would be a target for take-over for the Axis Powers. Secondly, as shown in the film, there were German soldiers constantly marching around the white line during neutrality, having the Vatican completely surrounded, the small force would have no chance against the German’s. As exposed in the film, the white line that surrounded Vatican City served as a barrier between neutrality and the Nazi’s, but without neutrality there would be no white line, no barrier and no safe haven. It is hard to determine, but I believe that the outcome of the war would have been altered if the Vatican did not remain

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