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 Ratification of the Agreement of the Modification of the Concordat Scott 765 (1985) On October 15, 1985, Vatican City issued the stamp shown above, marking the ratification and execution of the modification of the Lateran Concordat signed between the Holy See and Italy, originally established in 1929. The modified agreement was signed on November 15, 1984, and went into effect on June 3, 1985.  February, 1929: Cardinal Gaspari and Premier Mussolini are shown in the center of a group of Vatican and Italian government notables posing at the Lateran Palace before signing the Lateran Treaty From Wikimedia Commons, in the Public Domain The Lateran Pact of 1929 established the Vatican as an independent state within the borders of the unified Kingdom of Italy, and codified its temporal existence. The Preamble of the revised Concordat explains why the Holy See and Italy deemed it necessary to modify the old Concordat. Since 1929, many changes had occurred in the political and social order of Italy which dictated change, and developments brought about by the Second Vatican Council on the subject of relations between Church and State added to the need for revision. Following World War II, Italy had adopted a new Constitution, and revisions to the 1929 Pact were needed to bring it into closer harmony with the Italian Constitution. An important provision within the revision was the recognition of a separation of Church and State and, as a result, Catholicism was removed as the state religion of the Republic of Italy. In the revision's "Additional Protocol", both sides agreed that "the Catholic Church is no longer to be regarded as the only State religion." The Revision of 1984 contains the Preamble, fourteen articles, and the "Additional Protocol". It is beyond the scope of this review to discuss it in detail. It can be summarized by concluding that the Revision affords the Church greater freedom to exercise its mission. The Church also obligates itself to collaborate with the State to promote the well-being of the citizenry. And, it determines that the Church cannot be dependent on the State as it strives to fulfill its mission. The issued stamp depicts a mosaic illustration showing the Crossed Keys, symbolic of the Holy See, and a map of the Italian peninsula. The inscription at the bottom of the stamp reads "Ratification Agreement of the Modification of the Concordat June 3 1985". REFERENCES: |
