Holy See (Vatican City) History

The Holy See is the centre of the Roman Catholic Church from where the Pope resides and manages the church’s affairs.   While the Vatican is now the site of the Holy See, it was not always the case.  

In the 4th century AD, when Constantine I became the first Christian emperor of the Roman Empire, he built a basilica on the site where St Peter was buried, and where Vatican is now situated.   He also gave the Lateran Palace to the popes around 313 AD.   For many centuries since then, the Lateran Palace together with the basilica connected to it was the centre of the Catholic Church. 

In the 14th century, several events occurred.   The most significant one was the clash between the King of France, Philip IV and Pope Boniface VIII.   The former wanted to extend papal power over the monarchs, whereas the latter resisted the effort forcefully.   It has been said by some that Philip IV managed to surprise the pope at his retreat in France and tried to force the latter to resign.   Here the facts became blurred.   Some historian said that the subsequent popes moved to France to avoid the pressure from powerful Italian families, whereas some other said the papacy was moved involuntarily under pressure from France.   And the term “Babylonian Captivity” was used by some to describe this period.

Whatever the cause, the papacy resided in Avignon in southern France from 1309 for about one hundred years and the Church went through seven popes, all French, the first one being Clement V and the last one being Gregory XI, who moved back to Rome in 1376.   However, there were several “antipopes”, supported by some cardinals, who continued to reside in Avignon until the 1420s.

It was only in the early 1400s, when the popes moved back to Italy that the Vatican became the centre of papal power and the Vatican Palace and Saint Peter’s Basilica were enlarged and renovated.   It was during this period that great masters such as Rafael, Michelangelo, Botticelli and Perugino left their marks throughout the Vatican, including the Sistine Chapel.

In the late 16 th century, the Quirinal Palace, on the tallest of the seven hills of Rome, was built and became the papal residence and the location where the popes directed the affairs of the papal states which existed in Italy at the time.

The rebirth of the Vatican as the Holy See came when, in 1870, the papal states were overthrown and incorporated into a united Italy under the Italian unification movement.   The following year, the new Italian army occupied Rome, which became the capital of Rome and the Quirinal Palace became the official residence of the king of Italy, and after abolition of the Italian monarchy, the official residence and office of the president of the republic. 

The popes since 1870 refused to recognised the Italian government and treated themselves as prisoners in Vatican.  It took nearly 60 years to resolve this standoff between the Italian government and the papacy.   In 1929, Italy under Benito Mussolini and the Vatican under Pope Pius XI, signed the Lateran Treaty, under which Italy recognised the Vatican as an independent state, and paid compensation to the Church for its loss of the papal states.   In return, the Church recognised Italy as a sovereign state with Rome as its capital.