VaticanBackground
Popes in their secular role ruled portions of the Italian peninsula until the mid-19th century, when the newly established Kingdom of Italy seized many of the Papal States. In 1870, Italy annexed Rome, further circumscribing the pope's holdings. The 1929 Lateran Treaties resolved disputes between Italy and a series of "prisoner" popes. They established the independent state of Vatican City and granted Roman Catholicism special status in Italy. In 1984, a concordat between Vatican and Italy modified some earlier treaty provisions, including Roman Catholicism's primacy as the Italian state religion.
Present concerns of the Vatican include religious freedom, threats against minority Christian communities in Africa and the Middle East, and the plight of refugees and migrants. They also include climate change and the environment, conflict and war, nuclear weapons, artificial intelligence, and sexual misconduct by clergy. These concerns extend to humanitarian issues, interreligious dialogue and reconciliation, and applying church doctrine in an era of rapid change and globalization. Catholicism is professed worldwide and is the world's largest Christian faith.
Source: CIA World Factbook · 2026-02-01 · text generated from this source, approved by a person