Reconciliation Solves the Roman Question
by Unknown
This year, 11 February had special significance as we celebrated the 75th anniversary of the signing of the Lateran Accords which, as is well known, include the Treaty and the Concordat between the Holy See and Italy. Associated with this milestone is the 20th anniversary of the Agreement signed on 18 February 1984 which modified the 1929 Concordat.
In his Address to the new Ambassador of Italy on 9 January of this year, the Holy Father recalled these "two important events in relations between the Holy See and Italy", and said that they "witness how fruitful is the existing collaboration between the contractual parties, a collaboration that has developed through respect for their reciprocal milieus and a constant and serene dialogue, desirous of finding equitable solutions to their mutual needs" (L'Osservatore Romano English edition, [ORE], 28 January 2004, p. 8).
The commemoration of these two events that guaranteed religious peace in Italy and have been of great service to the Holy See and the Italian State is therefore a cause of rejoicing for both.
History of the Lateran Pacts
The Lateran Pacts resolved "definitively and irrevocably the 'Roman Question', which had arisen in 1870 when Rome was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy" (Preamble to the Treaty). Today it is hard to imagine the depth and the pain of the spiritual wound in the hearts of many Italians who felt as though they were being forced to choose between fidelity to the Church and her Supreme Pastor and the desire to be loyal citizens of their own Country.
Seventy-five years after what has justifiably been described as the "Reconciliation", it is a duty to assess correctly the effect of that event which made it possible to heal so deep a wound and to put proper order into relations between the Holy See and Italy as well as the Catholic Church's presence in Italy.
At the same time, the double anniversary of the Lateran Pacts and the Agreement of Villa Madama afford a timely opportunity to look back over the motivations, still valid, which the two Sovereign Parties expressed when they signed those Agreements and which must also guide their mutual relations in the future.
Ramifications of the Signing
The Treaty assured "the Holy See of the permanent conditions, de facto and in accordance with the law, that would guarantee its absolute independence in the fulfillment of its lofty mission in the world" (Preamble to the Treaty). With the creation of Vatican City State, the Holy See, subject to international law, was given total and visible autonomy, essential if it was to be able to carry out this mission if full freedom.
Thanks to these conditions of autonomy and freedom, the Successor of Peter can more easily carry out today the duty entrusted to him by Divine Founder of the Church to strengthen his brethren in the faith (cf. Lk 22:32) and to be the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the Church's unity (cf. Lumen Gentium, n. 23).
These conditions have facilitated the presence of the Apostolic See, which continues to be "above temporal rivalry between States" (art. 24 of the Treaty) in the international order so that it may promote peace and concord between nations and encourage the development of all the peoples, especially the most disadvantaged, appealing to the international community to make decisions that may always be to the benefit of man and all persons.
Application of the Treaty
Of course, the Lateran Treaty is and must remain intangible, but the two Sovereign Parties who signed it can of common accord explain and apply it in such a way as to make it comply with changed situations and sensibilities, as well as the unforeseen needs of the Holy See's mission. Indeed, the 75 years since 11 February 1929 have seen many examples of this reciprocal understanding that has always made it possible to find new and adequate solutions in conformity with the letter and ratio of the Treaty.
Among the most recent examples of this practice of collaboration, it suffices here to remember the ratification of the Social Security Agreement on 15 October 2003, signed by the Holy See and Italy on 16 June 2000, or the explanatory Agreement on the water supply of Vatican City State, signed in early January this year.
Thus, after the example of the above mentioned Agreement, the two Sovereign Parties affirmed that they have taken into account "the specificity of the Holy See and the particularity of its relations with Italy" (Preamble to the Social Security Agreement).
In the negotiations to solve the "Roman Question", right from the outset the Holy See suggested that the Treaty "be accompanied, for the necessary completion, by a Concordat aimed at regularizing the situation of Religion and of the Church in Italy" Preamble to the Concordat). In fact, the Concordat was signed on the same day as the Treaty.
Positive Results for Both Parties
Twenty years ago, on 16 February 1984, the Holy See and Italy, "taking into consideration the process of political and social transformation in Italy in the last decades and the development promoted in the Church by the Second Vatican Council (Preamble to the Agreement of Villa Madama), signed an agreement that modified the Concordat.
Thus, relations between the Church and the State in Italy have been structured in accordance with the guidelines that for the State derive from the principles sanctioned by the Italian Constitution and for the Church, from the teaching of the Second Vatican Council on religious freedom and on the relations between the Catholic Church and the political community, as well as from the 1983 Code of Canon Law (cf. ibid.).
In the Address of 9 January 2004 quoted above, the Holy Father pointed out: "In the 20 years that have passed since the Agreement of Villa Madama, the competent Italian Authorities have proceeded to stipulate various integrating agreements provided for in the above-mentioned Agreement. We can thus look with satisfaction at all that so far has been achieved. With regard to any shortcomings, possible developments or finishing touches, it is to be hoped that it will be possible to regularize the Agreement in the same spirit. The Church asks for no privileges, nor does she intend to go beyond the spiritual context proper to her mission. The agreements which originated in this respectful dialogue have the sole purpose of enabling her to carry out her universal task in full freedom and to foster the spiritual good of the Italian people (Address to the Ambassador of Italy to the Holy See, 9 January 2004; ORE, 28 January, p. 8).
The Anniversary's Key Importance
This double anniversary, the 75th of the Lateran Pacts and the 20th of the modifying Accord, acquires further importance at this moment in history when Italy is involved with other countries in the process of European collaboration.
In Italy, dialogue and collaboration between the Church and the State are based on recognition of the "value of religious culture", and in particular, on the awareness that "the principles of Catholicism are part of the historical patrimony of the Italian People" (cf. art. 9, 2 of the Agreement of Villa Madama). Indeed, Italy is considerably indebted for its identity to the "millennial ties" that "unite the See of Peter and the inhabitants of the Peninsula" (Address to the Ambassador of Italy, 9 January 2004; ORE, 28 January, p. 8) and to the "rich patrimony of Christian values which is a living source of inspiration and identity" to Italians (ibid.).
The European Union, whose institutions and decisional processes are now being redefined, likewise owes a great deal to the contribution of Christianity. Christianity was also able to harmonize and disseminate the multiple cultural contributions that have enriched this Continent down the centuries.
This in turn highlights the importance of recognizing the identity and specific contribution that the Catholic Church and the other Christian denominations guarantee Europe, and the consequent need to keep up a constant dialogue and an effective collaboration with them.
These considerations prompted the Holy Father to voice the following invitation: "Italy . . . is especially entitled to work to ensure that Europe too, in its competent institutions, recognizes its own Christian roots which can guarantee the citizens of the Continent an identity and is neither transitory nor based merely on political and economic interests, but is founded on deep and everlasting values . . . May Italy remind all its sister nations of the extraordinary religious, cultural and civil patrimony that has made Europe great down the centuries" (cf. ibid.).
This recognition is historically indisputable; rather, it is obvious. It will constitute an element of continuity on a European scale of that spirit which the Lateran Pacts and later agreements between the Holy See and Italy expressed and which were so fruitful for the advancement of the human being and the good of the Country.
© 2004 L'Osservatore Romano
This item 5906 digitally provided courtesy of CatholicCulture.org
