Short History Of... - The Vatican

Episode Date: November 3, 2025

Enclosed within the city of Rome and spanning just 0.2 square miles, Vatican City is the world’s smallest independent state. Yet within its fortified walls lies a history of immense power - a city that became the beating heart of Catholicism, where popes crowned emperors, defied kings, and shaped the course of world events. How did this unassuming patch of land rise to become the centre of global faith and authority? What scandals, schisms, and sacrifices threatened to tear it apart? And why, even today, does this ancient enclave still hold sway over more than a billion lives? This is a Short History Of The Vatican. A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. With thanks to Father Michael Collins, author of multiple books on the Vatican and Christianity, including The Vatican – Secrets and Treasures of the Holy City. Written by Olivia Jordan | Produced by Kate Simants | Assistant Producer: Nicole Edmunds | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Katrina Hughes | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Oliver Sanders | Assembly edit by Dorry Macaulay, Rob Plummer | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cody Reynolds-Shaw | Fact check: Sean Coleman Get every episode of Short History Of… a week early with Noiser+. You’ll also get ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to shows across the Noiser podcast network. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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It's up to you. We'll take the laundry. Rinse, it's time to be great. It's 4 a.m. on May the 6th, 1527 in Rome. A thick fog is rolling in from the River Tiber, curling around the ancient stones of the Borgo district and St. Peter's Basilica. Captain Caspar Roist, commander of the Swiss Guard, paces the city wall, the hem of his red tunic damp with dew, his armor heavy on his chest. Royst rubs his tired eyes. scanning for movement beyond the gates. He hasn't slept, and his jaw aches from clenching.

He knows something's coming. Angry over lack of pay, starving and inflamed by the Protestant cause, the mutinous army of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V is closing in. A sharp horn sounds, followed by shouts from the centuries. Then the Vatican's defense bells toll. It's time. Roist grabs his sword and calls his men to arms. Guards pour out to join him, tightening armor and drawing weapons as they go.

Now, in tight formation, with pikemen either side, Royst leads them to the Basilica steps. Dawn breaks over the river as he peers into the gloom, watching shadowy shapes coalesce into columns of men thousands strong. Cannons thunder from the ramparts, but the defenders are too few. Their shots, swallowed by the fog and the sheer scale of the Emperor's enormous advancing force. Ladders thud against the walls. One by one, invaders scale the defenses.

The Vatican is breached and soon St. Peter's Square is overrun. The clash of steel rings out on the Basilica steps as the first lines of combat collide. Royst ducks a swinging sword, then drives his own into an enemy soldier's chest. Beside him, a young guard thrusts his pike and slips in the blood. Roist grabs the boy's collar and hauls him back into the line. The Swiss guard hold firm on the steps, doing everything they can to follow Royst's order to hold the line and by the Pope enough time to flee. At first they drive the enemy back, but the numbers are relentless. Roist glimpses the enemy commander, Charles de Bourbon, climbing the city wall. But then a Swiss guard lunges, and Bourbon

crashes backwards, dead before he hits the ground. But the loss of their leader does nothing to slow the onslaught. Clouds of arrows whistle overhead, and still the enemy pour in until the square itself is a churning sea of blades and bodies. Royst lifts his heavy sword to swing again, but then staggers forward, a sudden, dull agony in his leg. He looks down and finds he is bleeding heavily. Beside him, a guard falls, then another. As he drops to his knees, he barks a final order to his remaining men before an enemy sword bites into his side. His vision darkening, Royst sees a welcome sight.

the Pope, Clement the 7th, robes in his fists and his face pale, he is being rushed towards a narrow passageway leading to the safety of Castel Saint Angelo, a group of guards shielding him as he escapes. Though the Pope is safe, Roist is not. Wounded, he is carried to his nearby home, but as the door swings open, he realizes that enemy soldiers are already inside. Soon he will go the way of the other 146 Swiss guards who die on that day. But in his last moments he knows that he held fast to his sacred duty to protect the Pope and the Vatican itself. In what became known as the Sack of Rome, the assault on the 6th of May, 1527 saw thousands killed, churches plundered, and the Pope fleeing for his life from the Vatican,

long seen as a place of refuge. And yet despite the bloodshed, the Vatican survived. Today, it's the world's smallest independent state, just 0.2 square miles, enclosed within the city of Rome and serving as the spiritual and administrative heart of the Catholic Church. Over centuries, have been scaled and rebuilt, its buildings destroyed and restored, and its sacred spaces revived with the rituals of religion. This tiny, walled city evolved into the beating heart of Catholicism and a place where popes, crowned emperors, defied kings and influenced the course of world history. But how did the Vatican rise from an unremarkable patch of land to become the center of global faith and power.

What scandals, schisms, and sacrifices threatened to bring it to ruin? And why does this ancient place still hold such sway over a billion lives today? I'm John Hopkins, from the Noiser Podcast Network. This is a short history of the Vatican. In the first century A.D., the area that will one day become Vatican City is little more than marshland, lying beyond the bustle of imperial Rome. A quiet, peaceful haunt of soothsayers and mystics, its name is linked to the Latin word for Ticinari to prophesy. But that stillness will not last. Father Michael Collins is the author of multiple books on the Vatican and Christianity.

The Emperor Augustus, 2,000 years ago, boasted that when he came to power, he found Rome, a city of brick, and when he left it, it was a city shining in resplendent marble. People came from all over the empire gathering in the Roman Forum to trade, to do commerce, to do law, to meet each other, to exchange their views and to expand on the Roman experience. the great Pax Romana, which in Augustus' mind had sped peace throughout the empire. During the reign of Augustus, the urban core of Rome begins to spill into its peripheries. Afterwards, Emperor's Caligula and Nero leave their mark with grand architecture. The wider city expands to include vast arenas for gladiatorial entertainment and chariot racing. At the heart of their circus stands the most striking symbol of all, Caligula's Vatican obelisk, 25 metres of red granite shipped from Egypt as a monument to Roman might.

Within decades, this unassuming riverbank will gain renown as a place of bloody martyrdom. It's the last link in a chain of events that begins in the year 64, when a week-long fire tears through Rome, destroying large swathes of the city. No one knows exactly how the fire starts, but in the smouldering aftermath, the emperor Nero needs someone to blame. He has long dreamed of rebuilding the cramped inner city, so whispers now spread that he might have started the blaze himself. In truth, he was away at Antium when the flames took hold, but suspicions linger. To deflect them, Nero now looks for a scapegoat.

So the blame fell on this group of followers of Crestus, we would say Christ of Jesus of Nazareth, and he brought some of them, according to Tacitus, to the area of the hippodrome, tied them to wooden poles, dip them in tar, and set them alight. And Tacitus tells us that this served as an illumination for the nighttime games. Among those accused is Peter, one of Jesus Christ's most devoted apostles, who has been

spreading the message of Christianity across the empire. Now in Rome, he leads a grown community of believers. Nero, however, is not among his supporters. In apparent punishment for the fire, the emperor has him crucified upside down on Vatican Hill. his body then tossed in a humble grave. But rather than drawing a line under his life, his martyrdom only adds to his legend, and his final resting place becomes a place of pilgrimage for the faithful.

For centuries, Christians worship mostly in secret, enduring periodic waves of persecution. Then, in 312 AD, everything changes. On the eve of a battle, Roman Emperor Constantine claims that he sees a vision, a cross of light in the sky with the words in Ok Sino-Vinches, in this sign you shall conquer. Now after ordering his soldiers to mark their shields with Christian symbols, he wins a decisive victory and becomes Christianity's newest and most powerful convert. The next year he issues the Edict of Milan, granting Christians the legal right to worship for the first time in Roman history.

But he goes beyond tolerance, pouring imperial wealth into the church, building new places of worship and donating land, including Vatican Hill. Constantine built seven churches around the city of Rome, the most important of which was over the believed tomb of Peter at the Vatican. And so the great basilica, which he constructed in a period of six years, rose over the area. Although we don't know exactly where Peter was buried, the bones have not been absolutely identified. But this was, in Constantine's mind, a place where he wanted to venerate the memory of Peter. Constantine's patronage outlives him, and by the end of the 4th century, Emperor Teodosius

declares Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. St. Peter's Basilica also endures as a cherished place for communal worship. But it's not until centuries later that it is fully established as the center of Western Christianity. During that time, Rome sees a succession of bishops, and as the faith spreads, other cities appoint bishops of their own. But the bishop of Rome stands apart, his unique authority rooted in the city's imperial status and its claim to be the resting place of St. Peter. Eventually, the bishop of Rome is seen not as one among many, but as first among equals. But for now, a bigger shift is taking place. The Roman Empire is unravelling. By the start of the 5th century AD, the empire is formally divided into a western

branch and an eastern one, later known as the Byzantine Empire. But as the decades pass, military overstretch, economic decline and repeated invasions leave the Western Empire weakened, until finally the last Roman Emperor is deposed by the Germanic warlord Odoisa. After the fall of the Roman Empire in the West, in 476, the city of Rome began to decay. The empire had moved to Ravenna. It fell to the Bishop of Rome as the leader of the Christian community, the largest religion in the city, and one of the most important imperial officials remaining in Rome, to repair the buildings and to try and restore the aqueducts.

The city was a sad shadow of its former glory. Cows grazed in the Roman Forum and squatters took over the ruins of the Coliseum. In the chaos, only one institution remains. The church fills roles once held by emperors and Senate officials. With no army to defend the city, the Bishop of Rome must negotiate, govern and protect as best he can. Around this time, a new title for the Bishop of Rome emerges. The title of Pope derives from the Latin Papa, meaning father, though he is often called the pontiff, a word once reserved for Rome's pagan high priests.

His office is called the Holy See from the Latin Sancta Sedes, or sacred seat. But though the Pope becomes the political leader of the city, he lacks the means to protect it's a problem that's becoming more urgent. By the mid-eighth century, the Germanic Lombards are seizing former Byzantine territory in Italy, pushing ever closer to Rome. Byzantium refuses to help, so the papacy looks instead to the rising power of the Frankish kingdom beyond the Alps. In 7.56 AD, Frankish King Pepin defeats the Lombards and gifts the Pope vast lands in central Italy. The establishment of these new papal states gives the Pope new strength. The taxes they generate provide a crucial new source of revenue.

While Vatican City, as we know it, does not yet exist, the forces that will shape it are already in motion. The church is no longer simply a spiritual institution. It is territorial, influential, hungry. As such, the role of Pope comes with unprecedented muscle, drawing ambitious and often vengeful men. Towards the end of the 9th century, Pope Formasus makes enemies at home by forming controversial alliances abroad. Unluckily for him, despite the teachings of the church he represents, his successor, Stephen the Sixth, is not a forgiving man. It is a bitter January day in Rome, 897.

Cold rain lashes down onto the cracked flagstones of the Basilica courtyard. A young subdeacon pulls his robe tighter around himself, then follows two senior clerics as they descend into the crypt below St. Peter's Basilica. down here they find two men working in silence bent over a slab in the floor with a final push they prize the heavy stone seal from the tomb the atmosphere is damp but now it's made worse by a pungent sour smell fighting the urge to mask his nose and mouth with his sleeve the young clergyman steps forward peering inside he makes out a figure It's the corpse of Pope Formasus, dead nine months, and still swaddled in the remains of his burial vestments. Flesh clings in places, elsewhere there is only bone.

Doing his best not to gag, the subdeacon steps back, allowing the workers to reach in and lift what's left of the body. It's his job, though, to take the legs, a task he does slowly, half in reverence, half in fear, the limbs might come away from their joints. Together, with infinite care, the men bring the body out of the building, load it onto a wooden cart and cover it with a sheet of clean linen. Then the subdeacon follows

as it rattles through Rome's back streets and back to the La Terran Basilica, the official papal residence that Pope Formasus once called home. Inside the La Terran, torch-like, flickers across marble columns. The subdeacon helps the clerics dress Formasus in fresh ecclesiastical garments.

White gloves are tugged over shrivelled hands, and a headdress is fixed awkwardly to the skull. A loop of cord is tied around the corpse's waist to keep it seated upright on a throne. But the head keeps tilting too far to one side, so with trembling hands the subdeacon props it with a folded cloth. When everything is ready, the new Pope Stephen 6th enters. His expression is unreadable, but the trial was his idea, and the sub-deacon catches a slight nod of approval. Now other bishops take their seats.

A deacon steps forward and reads the charges. Formasus is accused of violating canon law by illicitly ascending to the papacy while still bishop of Porto. No one speaks in his defence. The verdict is swift, guilty. Once the sentence has been read, the dead man's robes are stripped. His right hand is held out and a knife flashes. Three of the corpses' fingers, once used for blessings, fall to the floor. The subdeacon flinches, and someone beside him crosses themselves slowly. But there is no time to dwell. The subdeacon and the clerics lift the body once more and carry it back to the cart outside. Under a slate gray sky, they wheel it to a bank of the tiber, where they

stop to complete the punishment. The subdeacon helps lower the corpse from the cart. The uneven weight is awkward and the riverbank slick with rain is slippery underfoot. Without prayer or ceremony, they swing the body once, twice, and release it. The men watch for a moment as the pitch black current swallows what is left of the former leader of the Christian church, but the scandal of his trial will not sink so easily. More than a grotesque footnote, what is later named the Cadaver Synod reveals how deeply the early medieval papacy is consumed by rivalry. The throne of St. Peter is no longer a purely spiritual office, but a prize worth defiling a corpse for. Even so, the spectacle backfires. The Roman public is horrified and riots erupt.

Within months, Stephen is deposed, imprisoned, and strangled to death. Even in a city used to violence, the trial marks a total collapse of decorum. Citizens see how politics have corrupted the church. Law, tradition, and even decency have been twisted to serve factional control. With the papacy now a role that brings land and money, as well as spiritual supremacy, succession becomes a battleground, and so a problem appears. Who chooses the Pope? Senior clergy, the Cardinals, can advise, but final authority often shifts between rival powers inside and outside of the church. In order to avoid the undue influence of the aristocrats and the

people of Rome. The popes decided that in future, the new pope would be elected by the cardinals alone. In the 11th century, a group of cardinals came together, were isolated in one place and remained there until a new choice had been made, the new successor of Peter. This change sets a lasting precedent, eliminating lay influence. All future Pope will be chosen by a closed circle of clergy. A decision made ever more important as papal strength intensifies, and divisions in the church become more sharply defined. The word Catholic, meaning universal, has been used to describe the Christian church since the

second century. But universality isn't the same as unity, and towards the turn of the first millennium, disputes harden over theology, language, and the extent of the Pope's sovereignty. Eventually, in 1054, the Great Schism splits the church into two branches, the Eastern Orthodox Church centered in Constantinople, and the Roman Catholic Church based in Rome. By the 11th and 12th centuries, the strength of the papacy is reaching new heights. The Pope plays a key role in international diplomacy, but also initiates and authorizes military campaigns, or crusades, urging Christian rulers and knights to reclaim or defend sacred territories.

But power on this scale is hard to control, and papal elections grow longer and more chaotic, with opposing camps delaying decisions for months or even years. The longest papal election took place between 1268 and 71, when the cardinals gathered in the town of Viterbo, north of Rome. They waited for some days as various factions between the Spanish, Italian and French fought out the place for the compromise Bishop of Rome, the Pope. Finally, the mayor intervened, locked the cardinals under key in a large hall, reduced their food rations to bread and water, and then removed part of the roof.

Unsurprisingly, the cardinals came to a racket decision adapting Pope Gregory the 10th, Theodobaldo Hisconti, as the next Pope. Determined to avoid a repeat of the debacle. In 1274, Gregory the 10th issues a decree that formalizes the process, and a new tradition is born, the conclave. From the Latin cum clave, meaning with a key. From now on, elections will take place behind locked doors, with restrictions on food and no contact with the outside world until a decision is reached.

It's a system that, in evolved form, is still used today. After all, the stakes of choosing the right man for the job could not have been higher, because by the late Middle Ages, the Holy See commands not only spiritual authority, but also immense material wealth. The church is drawing vast income from tithes, land rents and donations across Europe, although little of these riches is being invested in Rome itself. To make matters worse, by the 1300s the city is gripped by instability. Violence between noble families, lawlessness and neglect, leave Rome's infrastructure crumbling.

Even the Vatican district is unsafe. In this climate, Pope Boniface VIII clashes with King Philip IV of France, over the Pope's involvement in matters of taxation and law. The dispute turns violent, and Boniface is seized by Philip's allies. He dies soon after his release, and his successor, Clement V, a Frenchman loyal to Philip, avoids Rome altogether. He soon moves his court to Avignon in France, where it will stay until 1377, when reformers and political leaders insist that the seat of St. Peter must come home to the site of his

martyrdom. But the return is rocky and the transition volatile. A year after moving back to Rome, the cardinals, most of whom are French, choose a new Italian pope. His harsh temperament and sweeping anti-corruption reforms quickly alienate those who put him there. In response, they claim his election is invalid and was made under mob pressure. They elect a rival pope who returns to Avignon. Now there are two popes, one in Rome and one in Avignon. The split spirals into a European crisis known as the Western schism. France, Scotland and Spain support Avignon, while England, the Holy Roman Empire and much of Northern Italy back Rome. In 1409, a third pope is elected at the Council of Pisa, with the intention of healing the rift. But this only makes matters

worse. It's not until 40 years later that a new, universally recognized Pope is chosen, re-establishing the Holy See in Rome. But the schism has shattered the image of the Pope as a singular moral authority. With trust in the institution shaken, the Vatican's long-term project is now not only governance, but rebuilding credibility. The factionalism and political interference that fueled the schism runs deep, and in the years that follow, nepotism flourishes, as powerful families fight to install their sons on the throne of St. Peter. What had happened through the Middle Ages, you'd had some dreadful popes, and the real reason was because the families were behind them.

For example, Lorenzo the Magnificent had his son made cardinal in the hopes that he would become pope. And he did become Pope, and it became Leo the 10th. Complete nepotism. However, that nepotism, it arose because of family ambition, usually aristocratic or wealthy families. But the popes then wanted to surround themselves with family members because they thought they were the only ones they could trust. Inmeshed as it is with these elite families and richer than ever,

The Vatican pours its wealth into art and architecture, and the Renaissance, already thriving in Florence, now begins to flourish in Rome itself. Throughout the late 1400s, the Vatican physically transforms. The medieval complex around old St. Peter's Basilica expands into a Renaissance masterpiece, including the establishment of the Vatican Library and the renewal of its palace.

Pope Sixtus IV commissions the Sistine Chapel, destined to become one of the most iconic spaces in chrism. Initially constructed between 1477 and 1480, later popes add to its splendor, with grand art and architecture by Tuscan masters. Michelangelo's frescoes and Raphael's tapestries adorn its ceilings and walls, establishing the chapel as the ceremonial heart of the Vatican. But it is under Pope Julius II that the Vatican undergoes its most dramatic transformation yet.

Born Giuliano della Rowery, he takes his papal name an homage to Julius Caesar and sees himself as a warrior pope, determined to expand and defend the power of the role. Julius wanted to defend the papal territories which were under attack from so many sides. He was the one who decided to knock down the old basilica of Constantine. built in the fourth century, and to erect a new basilica in a more modern style, the style of the Renaissance, the style of the rebirth. Julius turns the Vatican into a fortified hub of administration and pageantry. His pontificate also sees the establishment of the Swiss Guard, an elite military unit they serve as the Pope's personal bodyguards

and monitor access to Vatican buildings. Visitors may enter St. Peter's Basilica, but the Pope's official apartments, private rooms, and the Sistine Chapel remain closed to the public. Concerns for the pontiff's security also lead to increased reliance on the Paseto di Borgo, a protected passageway built in the 13th century that links the Vatican to a fortress outside the city walls.

For many Romans, the Vatican now feels separate from the city, set apart in its wealth, its might and its beauty. With the increasing funds that the papacy now had at its disposal from the riches, from the new world, coming from the exploration and the navigations of the explorers, Rome was made even more beautiful. The election of the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, who took the name Leo X, brought the papacy to the apogee of its temporal glory. Leo was, if you like, the equivalent of the son of Donald Trump, a man of extraordinary wealth, one of the wealthiest families in Italy,

coming to the position of Pope, the top job in the Catholic Church. And so Leo spend unrivaled sums of money, making the Sustentatel even more beautiful. The church's artistic patronage reaches dazzling heights. The Vatican's splendor is designed to awe the faithful, but there are some who see only extravagance and materialism. In the middle of this golden age of the papacy when the great artists were combining their talents

to produce magnificent frescoes, magnificent statues to adorn the city of Rome, A young German friar, Martin Luther, arrived in the city in 1510. Rather than be impressed by the beauty of the city and the wonderful churches and chapels in honour of the saints, he was scandalised by the worldliness of the papal court. He despised the selling of positions of power, of positions within the Curia. After visiting the Vatican's soaring domes, Luther returns to Germany disillusioned. He writes his 95 Theses, a list of grievances against clerical corruption, which he nails to a church door in Wittenberg.

In particular, he rejects what are known as indulgences, promises of salvation or a reduced time in purgatory issued by the church in exchange for money. He claims that only scripture should determine faith, not papal decree. At first, it's a theological protest, but others also see in his rejection of Rome the opportunity for greater autonomy, no more submission to the whims of the Pope and freedom from the taxation that comes with it. Luther's radical ideas quickly spread thanks to the newly invented printing press. His challenges ignite the Reformation, a broader movement that rejects Rome's authority and many Catholic doctrines. The clash between the Vatican and the new Protestant churches sparked decades of religious conflict across Europe, which will leave millions dead by the end of the century.

It's against this backdrop that the forces of the French Charles V march on the Vatican in 1527. Charles is a staunch Catholic, but his bitter quarrel with Pope Clement the 7th, who has sided with France against him, leaves the papacy dangerously exposed. But in turn, his mercenary army, many of whom are Protestants, are frustrated with poor leadership and a lack of pay. So what was intended as a mission to exert pressure on Clement turns into a full-scale sacking of the city. Uncontrolled, the troops storm the Vatican, loot St. Peter's Basilica, and slaughter the Swiss Guard on its steps. A brutal demonstration that the church is no longer untouchable. But after a period of rebuilding, the Vatican fights back. In 1545, the Pope convenes the Council of Trent, launching the Counter-Reformation.

Its goals are clear. defend Catholic doctrine, restore discipline, and reassert the power of the church. The reforms inspire a potent visual response. Across Catholic Europe, especially in Rome, churches rise in a bold new architectural style. Baroque is dramatic, theatrical, intended to provoke a spiritual response. Upon this new stage, the Vatican proclaims its message. Rome remains the heart of Catholicism, unshaken at the center of christendom. For the next few centuries, the Vatican's influence fluctuates as European empires rise and fall.

The Napoleonic wars of the early 1800s reshape the continent and stripped the church of territory and treasures. The decades that follow see a growing nationalist movement, seeking to bring the whole of Italy under one monarch. the Unified Kingdom of Italy is declared in 1861. Rome holds out under papal rule until the end of the decade, but when it is finally annexed in 1870, Pope Pius V. 9th refuses to recognize the state that seeks to absorb his lands, calling himself a prisoner in the Vatican. Formerly the ruler of the papal states and the King of Rome,

Pius VIII withdrew into the small area of the VIII, Vatican, no more than 108 acres around the Basilica of St. Peter's, complaining that although he was the monarch of Rome, he was now a prisoner of the Vatican. He claimed all he wanted was a piece of land no larger than a handkerchief from which took care for his flock. The self-imposed isolation continues for nearly 60 years. Successive popes refused to step outside. side Vatican grounds, a gesture combining political protest, spiritual posturing, and an assertion that the papacy will not bow to state powers. By the early 20th century, the stalemate has dragged on for decades, but any notion of

a truce is suspended by the dawn of a worldwide conflict. Remaining neutral throughout the First World War, the Vatican contributes tens of millions of lira in aid, and though Benedict the 15th apparently, appeals for peace, it falls on deaf ears. After the war, negotiations begin in secret between Vatican officials and the new kingdom of Italy under Benita Mussolini's government to settle what they call the Roman question, the political standoff over sovereignty. By now, both sides have something to gain. The Pope wants to secure the church's independence in a rapidly changing world. Mussolini wants the church's approval for his regime. On February 11th, 1929, the two sides sign the Lateran Treaty, recognizing Vatican City as an independent state with the Pope at its head.

It's a radical transformation. Once an enclosed part of Rome, the world's smallest, fully sovereign state now has internationally recognized borders and a constitution. encircled by its ancient walls, which mark its boundary with the city of Rome beyond, it comprises just over 100 acres. St. Peter's Basilica, the Square, and sections of the Vatican Museums are still open to the public, but the city is now sharply divided from the rest of Rome. Its permanent population, numbers only a few hundred, made up mostly of priests, nuns, officials, and the Swiss Guard, who live in barracks, apartments, or dormitories within the palace.

complex. Despite its diminutive size, it runs with surprising efficiency. The Vatican has its own flags, stamps, currency, and soon its own radio station, Radio Vatican, which launches in 1931. There is a pharmacy to serve its residents, a petrol station, and even an in-house printing press for the official newspaper. But what it doesn't have are farms, factories or natural resources. There is no airport and only a token railway line, making it entirely dependent on Italy for resources from food to water to energy. There are no taxes here, and certainly no elections.

There are no passports unless you're appointed to a role by the Pope. It is not a country in the traditional sense, but a theocratic enclave, a spiritual headquarters that also functions as a miniature bureaucracy. The buildings reflect this dual purpose. Inside St. Peter's, pilgrims still kneel in candlelit prayer, but next door, secretaries type official notices in government offices. This is not yet the Vatican of mass tourism and giant security cues. It is quieter, more austere, though intensely political in its infancy.

Every decision made will help define how this unique new state will operate for the century to come. By the late 1930s, Europe is once again heading for war. Though Vatican City is now sovereign, it is physically and politically surrounded by fascist Italy. Though the Holy See restates its neutrality when war breaks out in 1939, as the conflict unfolds, the Pope's position becomes increasingly controversial. If you were to tell the truth, the difficulty with the position of the Pope by now is that the Pope is now an international figure who's broadcast into cinemas on Pathay News and everything he says is broadcast on radio and television. He did his best to care for as many prisoners of war, in particular of the Jewish people, within the states and within the convents and abbeys under the control of the Vatican. even giving over the papal residence,

they couldn't be caught because this was extraterritorial. But still, the accusation remains he did not do enough to accuse Hitler and the other belligerence for the evil which they were carrying out the extermination of entire populations and races. After the war, the influence. The influence of the Vatican takes a new form, projected through media, diplomacy and culture. The Pope's visits to other countries draw millions of devotees.

Vatican radio broadcasts in dozens of languages and televised masses from St. Peter Square extend the Church's message to every corner of the world. Entering an age of mass media, rising secularism, and global political realignment, the Church faces growing pressure to adapt. Once closed and cautious, the Vatican opens up. In 1962, a new Pope calls for a new beginning. In the 1960s, Pope John the 23rd, who came from a poor farming family in the north of Italy, called a gathering of the church, the Second Vatican Council,

which took place in Rome between 1962 and 65. The liturgy was reformed. Mass was now celebrated in the vernacular rather than in Latin. The Word of God, the Bible, was given greater emphasis, and a series of reforms took place throughout the church. It was also followed by a period of turbulence. People who didn't want to see change, who didn't like development, rebelled against these changes.

But over the last number of decades, this has become more settled and people have understood that the church continuously has to do, as Pope John had said, throw the windows open to the breath of the Holy Spirit. As the church looks outward, the Vatican changes behind the scenes. In 1970, Pope Paul the 6th modernizes Vatican security, disbanding ceremonial units, but retaining the Swiss Guard, now joined by a new central security office. And while he is the first Pope to experience air travel, it is one of his successes who becomes the first truly global ambassador of the Vatican.

In 1978, following the death of Pope Paul VI and the 30-day pontificate of book John Paul I, a Slav was elected, a son of Poland, from behind the Iron Curtain, John Paul II, at a papacy of 26 years. marked by reassessing the church in the light of the Second Vatican Council and an extraordinary series of two hundred and three intercontinental journeys which brought him to almost every country on the globe. His visits draw millions of devotees, but for those unable to travel to see him,

there is now a Vatican television centre to bring the pontiff directly to their homes. But this era of unprecedented visibility comes with new levels of scrutiny. With the advent of the digital age, the Vatican must now run in full view of the world. And as the 21st century begins, it finds itself engulfed in controversy. Towards the end of the pontificate of John Paul II, as he became more infirm due to Parkinson's disease, a scandal erupted within the church the scandal of clerical child abuse

and of vulnerable adults for decades if not centuries this had been concealed and covered up from the eyes of the people but now thanks to the media and new social platforms the victims had a voice and the victims could be heard

the Holy See had to respond the institution was being damaged, but people's faith and their Christian belief was also suffering and in many places shattered. The people felt betrayed by their bishops, their priests, their leaders, their church. The news devastates trust in the church and in the Vatican as its seat of power. By the time John Paul II dies in 2005, aged 84, the scandal is still snowballing, and his failure to act is seen as a dark mark in his pontificate. Now the weight of the controversy passes to his successor, Pope Benedict XVI. As previous

head of the Vatican's doctrinal office, Benedict had been at the center of many internal debates. In his new role, he inherits a church at a moment of reckoning. With public outrage still escalating, he is at least more proactive than his predecessor, launching inquiries and defrocking almost 400 priests in just two years for abusive behavior. But according to his critics, he drags his feet and prioritizes the preservation of the institution over justice for victims.

Reform is demanded from both within and beyond the clergy, and there is bitter disagreement between the Pope's closest advisors. Longstanding ideological clashes and financial disputes simmer beneath the surface, undermining his leadership. Then, in 2012, those internal tensions explode into public view. Hundreds of confidential documents appear in the press, exposing infighting, dysfunction, and financial mismanagement at the heart of the Vatican. The world holds its breath to learn who is behind this audacious breach of trust.

It's early evening on the 23rd of May 2012. Within the walls of Vatican City, a warm breeze drifts across the neatly swept cobbles of the Cotilla de Belvedera. In a second-floor, Apollo Gabrielli, is stirring sugar into a cup of coffee. Beside him on the counter is a half-folded newspaper, but he can't concentrate on what it says. There's too much on his mind. He takes his drink into the next room where a printer sits on a small wooden desk. Freshly inked paper slides into the tray. Each sheet is stamped with a bold warning, marking it out as confidential Vatican correspondence.

There are memos, letters to and from senior clergy, warnings, accusations. The printer finally falls still, and the only sound is the muted hum of evening prayers from the television next door. Paolo lifts the latest copy still warm beneath his fingertips. He checks the lines, then adds it to a folder thick with documents. Some are tucked covertly between the pages of devotional texts. Paolo wraps the folder in a wide elastic band and tucks it behind the bottom draw of the desk. He is just about to push the drawer closed when he freezes.

certain he's heard something in the hallway. Eyes on the crucifix above his bed, he crosses himself quickly, then slides the draw back into place. And it's just in time, because seconds later there's an urgent knock at the door. Raised serious voices, demanding entry. Knowing he has no choice but to admit them,

he does as he's told. In the hall are three members of the gendarmery, the Vatican Police Corps, stern in their dark blue uniforms. One of them hands him a warrant before striding past into his private quarters. Paolo steps aside, head bowed. The search begins.

Behind books beneath floorboards, the officers find the first of what will amount to hundreds of stolen pages, letters, bank statements, and faxes, some dating back years. One officer lays out the evidence on the table, another heads to the wardrobe and brings out a box where he finds even more folders marked with sticky notes in a careful hand.

The desk drawer is pulled out, revealing the hidden folder at the back, as well as a gold nugget and a check for 100,000 euros gifted to the Pope by donors. Now an officer approaches Paola, handcuffs in hand. With a sigh, the butler extends his wrists and feels the cold metal snap around them. He allows himself to be escorted from the apartment and outside. Past the Vatican archives, past the gates of the apostolic palace,

past colleagues who now avert their eyes. By noon, the news will spread beyond these walls. The Pope's butler has been arrested inside the smallest country in the world for leaking the secrets of one of the most powerful establishments in history. Another breathtaking moment for the modern Catholic Church, dogged by scandal. Arrested and detained within Vatican walls, Paolo Gabrieli is one of the few lay people in modern history

to be imprisoned inside the city. He confesses without resistance and claims he acted not out of malice, but out of love for the church. His goal, he insists, was not to betray the Pope, but to open Benedict's eyes to the corruption and dysfunction festering around him. Pope Benedict XVI later pardons Gabrielle, but the damage is done. The so-called Vatilic's scandal marks a turning point, the collapse of Vatican secrecy in an age of digital transparency. The modern world presses in, forcing deeper questions about honesty, justice, and the future of the church.

Within a year, citing age and frailty, Benedict XVI steps down, the first pontiff to do so in six centuries. Immediately, crowds gather in St. Peter's Square and around screens worldwide, waiting for white smoke to rise from the Sistine Chapel chimney. The centuries-old signal that a conclave has concluded, and a new Pope has been elected. After five ballots, Pope Francis is elected, the first Jesuit Pope and the first from the Americas. He leads with an agenda for humility, reform and social justice. Bringing with tradition, his chosen residence is the Domus Sankai Matai, a guest house within Vatican walls, rather than the customary papal home of the Vatican Palace. From here, he pushes the church into new arenas, confronting climate,

change, corruption, and global inequality. But while the Vatican shifts, many traditions remain unchanged. Women, for example, are still barred from becoming bishops or voting in papal conclaves. As such, they remain locked out of much of the church's decision-making. Meanwhile, the city itself adapts slowly. The Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel welcome record visitors each year. Restoration teams work to preserve its landmarks. Inside the Vatican Library and Archives, ancient manuscripts are digitized, opening their pages to the world. The city's footprint does not expand, but tourism reshapes its streets. Pilgrims have the choice of more cafes, shops, and information points, while airport-style security barriers funnel crowds through checkpoints. In 2025, Francis, beloved by millions,

passes away, and within a few days the conclave's white smoke billows once again. Cardinal Robert Prevost is elected Pope Leo the 14th, the first North American Pope, another milestone for an institution that is both ancient and continually renewing. For almost 2,000 years, Vatican City has stood witness to martyrdom and empire, intrigue and scandal, grandeur and humility. Its walls have withstood siege and sack, its chapels have inspired generations, and its archives have carried memory across centuries. Despite being the world's smallest country, it has shaped some of history's biggest moments

and continues to thrive as a place of pilgrimage to this day. After 2,000 years of the Christian faith, the Catholic Church continues to bear a beacon of light, even though sometimes it flickers and fades in a world of darkness and of fear of violence and of intemperance in the heart of Rome there still is a small little square of 108 acres

centred around the basilica of St. Peter's built over the believed tune of the Apostle Peter the Bishop of Rome is 266th success still carries a beacon of hope, still holds out a hand of friendship and a message of trust in a better future and peace and reconciliation. Next time on short history, I will bring you a short history. of Oscar Wilde.

I think all sorts of things that Wilde speaks to about the freedom of the artist, about self-expression, and a sort of socialist, anarchist, anarchist, compassionate, humanitarian, creative individualism. I think there's an idealism there that carries on speaking that has a beauty to it and a value to it.

I constantly mean students, and in every year there will be students for whom Wilde personally means a lot and a way in which he's helped them find themselves and as a writer to be able to do that you know over a hundred years later is incredible but he does that's next time

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