Jan. 7, 1949 A cease-fire is established ending first Arab-Israeli War.
1949 Armistice
In a series of armistices with Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon in 1949, Israel established borders similar to those of Palestine during the British Mandate. Jordan retained the West Bank of the Jordan River and Jerusalem was divided under Israeli and Jordanian rule. In late October 1956, instigated by Britain and France during the crisis over Egypt's seizure of the Suez Canal, Israel invaded the Sinai Peninsula to destroy military bases.
Israel captured Gaza and Sharm el Sheikh at the tip of the Sinai Peninsula that controls access to the Gulf of Aqaba. It also occupied most of Sinai east of the canal. According to plan, the British and French intervened in the conflict to enforce a U.N. cease-fire. The crisis ended in December when the United Nations stationed a peacekeeping force in Sinai. Israel withdrew in March 1957.
Monday, January 30, 2006
1948 ISRAELI ARAB WARS BEGIN
May 13, 1948 The British Mandate in Palestine ends.
May 14, 1948 Zionist leader David Ben-Gurion declares the independence of the state of Israel in that part of partitioned Palestine given to the Jews.
May 15, 1948 The armies of Syria, Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan invade Palestine.
Independence, war, armistice1948-49. Zionist leader David Ben-Gurion's declaration in Tel Aviv on May 14, 1948, that Israel was an independent state triggered an invasion by Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon and Iraq. Over the next 15 months, the Israelis expanded their holdings to northern Galilee and southern Negev. The ensuing armistice divided Jerusalem between Israel and Jordan, but the fate of 400,000 Palestinian Arabs who fled Israel during the fighting and were in camps near the border was not resolved.
Israeli War of Independence
The British position in Palestine at the end of World War II was becoming increasingly untenable. Hundreds of thousands of Jewish Holocaust survivors temporarily housed in displaced persons camps in Europe were clamoring to be settled in Palestine. The fate of these refugees aroused international public opinion against British policy. Moreover, the administration of President Harry S Truman, feeling morally bound to help the Jewish refugees and exhorted by a large and vocal Jewish community, pressured Britain to change its course in Palestine.
Postwar Britain depended on American economic aid to reconstruct its war-torn economy. Furthermore, Britain's staying power in its old colonial holdings was waning; in 1947 British
rule in India came to an end and Britain informed Washington that London could no longer carry the military burden of strengthening Greece and Turkey against communist encroachment.
In May 1946, the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry unanimously declared its opposition to the White Paper of 1939 and proposed, among other recommendations, that the immigration to Palestine of 100,000 European Jews be authorized at once.
The British Mandate Authority rejected the proposal, stating that such immigration was impossible while armed organizations in Palestine-- both Arab and Jewish--were fighting the authority and disrupting public order. Despite American, Jewish, and international pressure and the recommendations of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, the new Labour Party government of Prime Minister Clement Atlee and his foreign minister, Ernest Bevin, continued to enforce the policy articulated in the White Paper. British adamancy on immigration radicalized the Yishuv.
Under Ben-Gurion's direction, the Jewish Agency decided in October 1945 to unite with Jewish dissident groups in a combined rebellion against the British administration in Palestine. The combined Jewish resistance movement organized illegal immigration and kidnapping of British officials in Palestine and sabotaged the British infrastructure in Palestine. In response Bevin ordered a crackdown on the Haganah and arrested many of its leaders. While the British concentrated their efforts on the Haganah, the Irgun and Lehi carried out terrorist attacks against British forces, the most spectacular of which was the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in July 1946.
The latter event led Ben-Gurion to sever his relationship with the Irgun and Lehi. By 1947 Palestine was a major trouble spot in the British Empire, requiring some 100,000 troops and a huge maintenance budget. On February 18, 1947, Bevin informed the House of Commons of the government's decision to present the Palestine problem to the United Nations (UN). On May 15, 1947, a special session of the UN General Assembly established the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP), consisting of eleven members.
The UNSCOP reported on August 31 that a majority of its members supported a geographically complex system of partition into separate Arab and Jewish states, a special international status for Jerusalem, and an economic union linking the three members. Backed by both the United
States and the Soviet Union, the plan was adopted after two months of intense deliberations as the UN General Assembly Resolution of November 29, 1947. Although considering the plan defective in terms of their expectations from the League of Nations Mandate twenty-five years earlier, the Zionist General Council stated willingness in principle to accept partition.
The League of Arab States (Arab League) Council, meeting in December 1947, said it would take whatever measures were required to prevent implementation of the resolution. Despite the passage of the UN partition plan, the situation in Palestine in early 1948 did not look auspicious for the Yishuv. When the AHC rejected the plan immediately after its passage and called for a general strike, violence between Arabs and Jews mounted. Many Jewish centers, including Jerusalem, were besieged by the Arabs.
In January 1948, President Truman, warned by the United States Department of State that a Jewish state was not viable, reversed himself on the issue of Palestine, agreeing to postpone partition and to transfer the Mandate to a trusteeship council. Moreover, the British forces in
Palestine sided with the Arabs and attempted to thwart the Yishuv's attempts to arm itself.
In mid-March the Yishuv's military prospects changed dramatically after receiving the first clandestine shipment of heavy arms from Czechoslovakia. The Haganah went on the offensive and, in a series of operations carried out from early April until mid-May, successfully consolidated and created communications links with those Jewish settlements designated by the UN to become the Jewish state.
In the meantime, Weizmann convinced Truman to reverse himself and pledge his support for the proposed Jewish state. In April 1948, the Palestinian Arab community panicked after Begin's Irgun killed 250 Arab civilians at the village of Dayr Yasin near Jerusalem. The news of Dayr Yasin precipitated a flight of the Arab population from areas with large Jewish populations.
On May 14, 1948, Ben-Gurion and his associates proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel. On the following day Britain relinquished the Mandate at 6:00 P.M. and the United States announced de facto recognition of Israel. Soviet recognition was accorded on May 18; by April 1949, fifty-three nations, including Britain, had extended recognition. In May 1949, the UN General Assembly, on recommendation of the Security Council, admitted Israel to the UN.
Meanwhile, Arab military forces began their invasion of Israel on May 15. Initially these forces consisted of approximately 8,000 to 10,000 Egyptians, 2,000 to 4,000 Iraqis, 4,000 to 5,000 Transjordanians, 3,000 to 4,000 Syrians, 1,000 to 2,000 Lebanese, and smaller numbers of Saudi Arabian and Yemeni troops, about 25,000 in all. Israeli forces composed of the
Haganah, such irregular units as the Irgun and the Stern Gang, and women's auxiliaries numbered 35,000 or more. By October 14, Arab forces deployed in the war zones had increased to about 55,000, including not more than 5,000 irregulars of Hajj Amin al Husayni's Palestine Liberation Force. The Israeli military forces had increased to approximately 100,000. Except
for the British-trained Arab Legion of Transjordan, Arab units were largely ill-trained and inexperienced.
Israeli forces, usually operating with interior lines of communication, included an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 European World War II veterans. By January 1949, Jewish forces held the area that was to define Israel's territory until June 1967, an area that was significantly
larger than the area designated by the UN partition plan. The part of Palestine remaining in Arab hands was limited to that held by the Arab Legion of Transjordan and the Gaza area held by Egypt at the cessation of hostilities. The area held by the Arab Legion was subsequently annexed by Jordan and is commonly referred to as the West Bank. Jerusalem was divided.
The Old City, the Western Wall and the site of Solomon's Temple, upon which stands the Muslim mosque called the Dome of the Rock, remained in Jordanian hands; the New City lay on the Israeli side of the line. Although the West Bank remained under Jordanian suzerainty until 1967, only two countries--Britain and Pakistan--granted de jure recognition of the annexation.
Early in the conflict, on May 29, 1948, the UN Security Council established the Truce Commission headed by a UN mediator, Swedish diplomat Folke Bernadotte, who was assassinated in Jerusalem on September 17, 1948. He was succeeded by Ralph Bunche, an American, as acting mediator. The commission, which later evolved into the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization-Palestine (UNSTOP), attempted to devise new settlement plans and arranged the truces of June 11-July 8 and July 19-October 14, 1948.
Armistice talks were initiated with Egypt in January 1949, and an armistice agreement was concluded with Egypt on February 24, with Lebanon on March 23, with Transjordan on April 3, and with Syria on July 20. Iraq did not enter into an armistice agreement but withdrew its forces after turning over its positions to Transjordanian units.
May 14, 1948 Zionist leader David Ben-Gurion declares the independence of the state of Israel in that part of partitioned Palestine given to the Jews.
May 15, 1948 The armies of Syria, Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan invade Palestine.
Independence, war, armistice1948-49. Zionist leader David Ben-Gurion's declaration in Tel Aviv on May 14, 1948, that Israel was an independent state triggered an invasion by Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon and Iraq. Over the next 15 months, the Israelis expanded their holdings to northern Galilee and southern Negev. The ensuing armistice divided Jerusalem between Israel and Jordan, but the fate of 400,000 Palestinian Arabs who fled Israel during the fighting and were in camps near the border was not resolved.
Israeli War of Independence
The British position in Palestine at the end of World War II was becoming increasingly untenable. Hundreds of thousands of Jewish Holocaust survivors temporarily housed in displaced persons camps in Europe were clamoring to be settled in Palestine. The fate of these refugees aroused international public opinion against British policy. Moreover, the administration of President Harry S Truman, feeling morally bound to help the Jewish refugees and exhorted by a large and vocal Jewish community, pressured Britain to change its course in Palestine.
Postwar Britain depended on American economic aid to reconstruct its war-torn economy. Furthermore, Britain's staying power in its old colonial holdings was waning; in 1947 British
rule in India came to an end and Britain informed Washington that London could no longer carry the military burden of strengthening Greece and Turkey against communist encroachment.
In May 1946, the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry unanimously declared its opposition to the White Paper of 1939 and proposed, among other recommendations, that the immigration to Palestine of 100,000 European Jews be authorized at once.
The British Mandate Authority rejected the proposal, stating that such immigration was impossible while armed organizations in Palestine-- both Arab and Jewish--were fighting the authority and disrupting public order. Despite American, Jewish, and international pressure and the recommendations of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, the new Labour Party government of Prime Minister Clement Atlee and his foreign minister, Ernest Bevin, continued to enforce the policy articulated in the White Paper. British adamancy on immigration radicalized the Yishuv.
Under Ben-Gurion's direction, the Jewish Agency decided in October 1945 to unite with Jewish dissident groups in a combined rebellion against the British administration in Palestine. The combined Jewish resistance movement organized illegal immigration and kidnapping of British officials in Palestine and sabotaged the British infrastructure in Palestine. In response Bevin ordered a crackdown on the Haganah and arrested many of its leaders. While the British concentrated their efforts on the Haganah, the Irgun and Lehi carried out terrorist attacks against British forces, the most spectacular of which was the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in July 1946.
The latter event led Ben-Gurion to sever his relationship with the Irgun and Lehi. By 1947 Palestine was a major trouble spot in the British Empire, requiring some 100,000 troops and a huge maintenance budget. On February 18, 1947, Bevin informed the House of Commons of the government's decision to present the Palestine problem to the United Nations (UN). On May 15, 1947, a special session of the UN General Assembly established the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP), consisting of eleven members.
The UNSCOP reported on August 31 that a majority of its members supported a geographically complex system of partition into separate Arab and Jewish states, a special international status for Jerusalem, and an economic union linking the three members. Backed by both the United
States and the Soviet Union, the plan was adopted after two months of intense deliberations as the UN General Assembly Resolution of November 29, 1947. Although considering the plan defective in terms of their expectations from the League of Nations Mandate twenty-five years earlier, the Zionist General Council stated willingness in principle to accept partition.
The League of Arab States (Arab League) Council, meeting in December 1947, said it would take whatever measures were required to prevent implementation of the resolution. Despite the passage of the UN partition plan, the situation in Palestine in early 1948 did not look auspicious for the Yishuv. When the AHC rejected the plan immediately after its passage and called for a general strike, violence between Arabs and Jews mounted. Many Jewish centers, including Jerusalem, were besieged by the Arabs.
In January 1948, President Truman, warned by the United States Department of State that a Jewish state was not viable, reversed himself on the issue of Palestine, agreeing to postpone partition and to transfer the Mandate to a trusteeship council. Moreover, the British forces in
Palestine sided with the Arabs and attempted to thwart the Yishuv's attempts to arm itself.
In mid-March the Yishuv's military prospects changed dramatically after receiving the first clandestine shipment of heavy arms from Czechoslovakia. The Haganah went on the offensive and, in a series of operations carried out from early April until mid-May, successfully consolidated and created communications links with those Jewish settlements designated by the UN to become the Jewish state.
In the meantime, Weizmann convinced Truman to reverse himself and pledge his support for the proposed Jewish state. In April 1948, the Palestinian Arab community panicked after Begin's Irgun killed 250 Arab civilians at the village of Dayr Yasin near Jerusalem. The news of Dayr Yasin precipitated a flight of the Arab population from areas with large Jewish populations.
On May 14, 1948, Ben-Gurion and his associates proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel. On the following day Britain relinquished the Mandate at 6:00 P.M. and the United States announced de facto recognition of Israel. Soviet recognition was accorded on May 18; by April 1949, fifty-three nations, including Britain, had extended recognition. In May 1949, the UN General Assembly, on recommendation of the Security Council, admitted Israel to the UN.
Meanwhile, Arab military forces began their invasion of Israel on May 15. Initially these forces consisted of approximately 8,000 to 10,000 Egyptians, 2,000 to 4,000 Iraqis, 4,000 to 5,000 Transjordanians, 3,000 to 4,000 Syrians, 1,000 to 2,000 Lebanese, and smaller numbers of Saudi Arabian and Yemeni troops, about 25,000 in all. Israeli forces composed of the
Haganah, such irregular units as the Irgun and the Stern Gang, and women's auxiliaries numbered 35,000 or more. By October 14, Arab forces deployed in the war zones had increased to about 55,000, including not more than 5,000 irregulars of Hajj Amin al Husayni's Palestine Liberation Force. The Israeli military forces had increased to approximately 100,000. Except
for the British-trained Arab Legion of Transjordan, Arab units were largely ill-trained and inexperienced.
Israeli forces, usually operating with interior lines of communication, included an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 European World War II veterans. By January 1949, Jewish forces held the area that was to define Israel's territory until June 1967, an area that was significantly
larger than the area designated by the UN partition plan. The part of Palestine remaining in Arab hands was limited to that held by the Arab Legion of Transjordan and the Gaza area held by Egypt at the cessation of hostilities. The area held by the Arab Legion was subsequently annexed by Jordan and is commonly referred to as the West Bank. Jerusalem was divided.
The Old City, the Western Wall and the site of Solomon's Temple, upon which stands the Muslim mosque called the Dome of the Rock, remained in Jordanian hands; the New City lay on the Israeli side of the line. Although the West Bank remained under Jordanian suzerainty until 1967, only two countries--Britain and Pakistan--granted de jure recognition of the annexation.
Early in the conflict, on May 29, 1948, the UN Security Council established the Truce Commission headed by a UN mediator, Swedish diplomat Folke Bernadotte, who was assassinated in Jerusalem on September 17, 1948. He was succeeded by Ralph Bunche, an American, as acting mediator. The commission, which later evolved into the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization-Palestine (UNSTOP), attempted to devise new settlement plans and arranged the truces of June 11-July 8 and July 19-October 14, 1948.
Armistice talks were initiated with Egypt in January 1949, and an armistice agreement was concluded with Egypt on February 24, with Lebanon on March 23, with Transjordan on April 3, and with Syria on July 20. Iraq did not enter into an armistice agreement but withdrew its forces after turning over its positions to Transjordanian units.
1948-1973 RISE OF USA IN MIDEAST
1945 - 1973 The Rise of the U.S. in the Middle East. As World War II ends, the United States becomes the great outside power in the Middle East, with three main concerns: Persian Gulf oil; support and protection of Israel, founded in 1948; and containment of the Soviet Union. The goals prove difficult to manage, especially through the rise of Arab nationalism, two major Arab-Israeli wars and an Arab oil embargo.
Key Figures in 'The Middle East and the West'
1945 - 1973: The Rise of the U.S. in the Middle East King Abdul Aziz al Saud 1880-1953. Founder and first king of Saudi Arabia. Kept his tribes and his forces largely sidelined during World War I, when the British supported an Arab Revolt and other Arabian leaders against the Ottoman Empire. In the early 1920s, he began to expand territory in the Arabian Peninsula under his control.
In 1924, in alliance with conservative religious forces known as the Ikhwan, Abdul Aziz invaded Mecca and seized the territory in Arabia known as the Hejaz. Britain, the nominal imperial power in the peninsula, eventually accepted his expansionist raids, and in 1932, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia became independent with Abdul Aziz its monarch.
In 1933 Abdul Aziz signed the first contract -- with the American oil company Socal -- to explore for oil in Saudi Arabia. Oil was discovered five years later and would result after World War II in enormous inflows of cash to the desert kingdom.
The first step toward diplomatic alliance with the United States occurred in 1945 just as the war was ending, when Abdul Aziz met with President Roosevelt on a ship in the Red Sea.
Mohammed Mossadegh 1880-1967. Iranian political leader and prime minister. Educated in Switzerland before World War I, he became a member of Iran's elite. Mossadegh held many government positions, including provincial governor and foreign minister, but opposed election of Reza Khan as Shah in 1925.
Mossadegh emerged during World War II as an outspoken supporter of Iranian nationalism. He called for nationalization of British oil assets in Iran. By 1951, Mossadegh became so popular that then Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi was forced to appoint him prime minister.
Oil nationalization prompted a profound crisis in Iran, with opposition coming from Britain and the United States. In 1953 the Shah tried to remove him, but street demonstrations forced the Shah to leave Iran. Just days later, a joint American-British-supported coup toppled Mossadegh and restored the Shah to the throne. Mossadegh was imprisoned for three years, and spent the rest of his life under house arrest.
Gamal Abdel Nasser 1918-1970. Nationalist leader of Egypt. As an Egyptian military officer, he fought in the 1948 war that saw Israel become an independent nation in much of what had been British-controlled Palestine. In 1952, Nasser and other officers staged a bloodless coup, overthrowing King Farouk.
Nasser emerged as supreme Egyptian leader in 1954. He nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956, prompting a joint British/French/Israeli military action to reseize it. U.S. President Eisenhower opposed that action, and the military effort quickly collapsed.
In 1958, Nasser combined Egypt and Syria into the United Arab Republic, an experiment in Arab nationalism that ended three years later, when Syria withdrew. In alliance with Syria and Jordan, Nasser fought Israel in 1967 only to suffer a devastating defeat in six days. He died of a heart attack three years later.
Key Figures in 'The Middle East and the West'
1945 - 1973: The Rise of the U.S. in the Middle East King Abdul Aziz al Saud 1880-1953. Founder and first king of Saudi Arabia. Kept his tribes and his forces largely sidelined during World War I, when the British supported an Arab Revolt and other Arabian leaders against the Ottoman Empire. In the early 1920s, he began to expand territory in the Arabian Peninsula under his control.
In 1924, in alliance with conservative religious forces known as the Ikhwan, Abdul Aziz invaded Mecca and seized the territory in Arabia known as the Hejaz. Britain, the nominal imperial power in the peninsula, eventually accepted his expansionist raids, and in 1932, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia became independent with Abdul Aziz its monarch.
In 1933 Abdul Aziz signed the first contract -- with the American oil company Socal -- to explore for oil in Saudi Arabia. Oil was discovered five years later and would result after World War II in enormous inflows of cash to the desert kingdom.
The first step toward diplomatic alliance with the United States occurred in 1945 just as the war was ending, when Abdul Aziz met with President Roosevelt on a ship in the Red Sea.
Mohammed Mossadegh 1880-1967. Iranian political leader and prime minister. Educated in Switzerland before World War I, he became a member of Iran's elite. Mossadegh held many government positions, including provincial governor and foreign minister, but opposed election of Reza Khan as Shah in 1925.
Mossadegh emerged during World War II as an outspoken supporter of Iranian nationalism. He called for nationalization of British oil assets in Iran. By 1951, Mossadegh became so popular that then Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi was forced to appoint him prime minister.
Oil nationalization prompted a profound crisis in Iran, with opposition coming from Britain and the United States. In 1953 the Shah tried to remove him, but street demonstrations forced the Shah to leave Iran. Just days later, a joint American-British-supported coup toppled Mossadegh and restored the Shah to the throne. Mossadegh was imprisoned for three years, and spent the rest of his life under house arrest.
Gamal Abdel Nasser 1918-1970. Nationalist leader of Egypt. As an Egyptian military officer, he fought in the 1948 war that saw Israel become an independent nation in much of what had been British-controlled Palestine. In 1952, Nasser and other officers staged a bloodless coup, overthrowing King Farouk.
Nasser emerged as supreme Egyptian leader in 1954. He nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956, prompting a joint British/French/Israeli military action to reseize it. U.S. President Eisenhower opposed that action, and the military effort quickly collapsed.
In 1958, Nasser combined Egypt and Syria into the United Arab Republic, an experiment in Arab nationalism that ended three years later, when Syria withdrew. In alliance with Syria and Jordan, Nasser fought Israel in 1967 only to suffer a devastating defeat in six days. He died of a heart attack three years later.
1948 OTHER INDEPENDENT TREES REBORN
Hosea said of Israel, “I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time . . .” (Hosea 9:10)
Joel wrote of the northern invaders of Israel, “He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree. . .(Joel 1:7)
In 1948, the fig tree (ISRAEL) began to put forth leaves, so to speak, and Jesus said that generation would see ‘all these things’ fulfilled.
The Bible said that pivotal events in history would take place simultaneously with the birth of a revived Roman Empire. A unified Europe looks back to its’ foundation as January 1, 1948. The 1948 Benelux Treaty resulted in the establishment of the Western European Union (WEU). With the signing in Brussels of the Treaty of Mutual Assistance of the Western Union
(United Kingdom, Benelux, France) Europe began to come together in the name of peace, not conquest.
The 1948 Benelux Treaty led to the 1949 creation of the Council of Europe which in it's turn led to the expansion of the Belelux Treaty under the terms of the 1957 Treaty of Rome which led to the Western European Union.
Israel was reborn in 1948, as the embryonic European Community of nations was being born out of the 1948 Benelux Treaty.
It said an apostate world religion would develop at the same time. Revelation 13:11 describes this religious system as “having two horns like a lamb” -- symbols of Christianity. The World Council of Churches was born in 1948. (The World Council of Churches accepts just about every religion as valid and acceptable except true, Bible-based Christianity which they view as a
hinderance to establishing a one world religion).
The Bible predicts that a global political system will co-exist with a global economy. The World Trade Organization -- a trade organization empowered to regulate the global economy -- saw its genesis in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, enacted by the UN in 1948.
The Bible predicted that global economy will fall under the control of a single individual who will be able to regulate commerce down to the individual level -- “That no man might buy or sell” -Rev 13:17. Such individual control was impossible before the advent of computers.
Although computers had been invented during World War II, they were huge, bulky monsters that used notoriously unreliable and hugely inefficient vacuum tubes. The first computers were slower than a pocket calculator, filled huge environmentally sealed rooms and required enough electricity to power a small city.
That all changed in 1948 when Bell Labs invented the transistor chip, signaling the official birth of the Computer Age.
That final age would be marked by 'rumors of war' - Matt 24:7. The ultimate 'rumor of war' was the Cold War. It began with the Berlin Airlift of 1948. The Soviet collapse was a direct result of the cost of fighting the Cold War. The ongoing decline of US influence in the world is also related to the costs of that 'war'.
The power vacuum left by the simultaneous decline of each of these great powers is being filled by Europe, just as the Bible predicted.
Earthquakes began to show a marked increase in size, scope and intensity in 1948. The modern period of ethnos against ethnos can be traced to the death of colonialism beginning in 1948.
Increasing 'pestilence' or deadly disease, can be traced to 1948. Economic 'kingdoms' began with the first multinational corporations in 1948.
Legislation passed by the UN in 1948 like the UDHR and the UNCPR function today as the legal cornerstones of our developing globalist worldview and the disintegration of US Constitutional guarantees.
The decline in morality -- worldwide -- can arguably be placed at the feet of the current trend of devaluing human life to the degree that legislation permitting abortion and euthanasia are evidences of an 'advanced' society.
The Japanese Eugenics Act -- the first legal abortion on demand legislation ever passed in modern society -- was passed in
1948. American Margaret Sanger was so impressed with the idea that she founded the premier abortion rights advocacy group -- Planned Parenthood -- in 1948.
Let's not forget the other technological advances introduced in 1948 -- commercial television, holography, cybernetics, meteorology, the nuclear arms race, microelectronics and dozens of other advances that served to demystify the books of Daniel and the Revelation for this generation.
Add that to the social breakdown that followed the ouster of God from American education following McCollum vs. the board of education decision of 1948. Don't forget the contribution made to evolutionary theory by the introduction of the 'Big Bang' theory of 1948. That served to further alienate the concept of a Creator God from the American worldview.
2 Peter3:3 warns "that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation."
All these things taken in context point to one logical conclusion. This is the generation of whom Jesus was speaking when He said, "This generation shall not pass until ALL these things be fulfilled." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Joel wrote of the northern invaders of Israel, “He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree. . .(Joel 1:7)
In 1948, the fig tree (ISRAEL) began to put forth leaves, so to speak, and Jesus said that generation would see ‘all these things’ fulfilled.
The Bible said that pivotal events in history would take place simultaneously with the birth of a revived Roman Empire. A unified Europe looks back to its’ foundation as January 1, 1948. The 1948 Benelux Treaty resulted in the establishment of the Western European Union (WEU). With the signing in Brussels of the Treaty of Mutual Assistance of the Western Union
(United Kingdom, Benelux, France) Europe began to come together in the name of peace, not conquest.
The 1948 Benelux Treaty led to the 1949 creation of the Council of Europe which in it's turn led to the expansion of the Belelux Treaty under the terms of the 1957 Treaty of Rome which led to the Western European Union.
Israel was reborn in 1948, as the embryonic European Community of nations was being born out of the 1948 Benelux Treaty.
It said an apostate world religion would develop at the same time. Revelation 13:11 describes this religious system as “having two horns like a lamb” -- symbols of Christianity. The World Council of Churches was born in 1948. (The World Council of Churches accepts just about every religion as valid and acceptable except true, Bible-based Christianity which they view as a
hinderance to establishing a one world religion).
The Bible predicts that a global political system will co-exist with a global economy. The World Trade Organization -- a trade organization empowered to regulate the global economy -- saw its genesis in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, enacted by the UN in 1948.
The Bible predicted that global economy will fall under the control of a single individual who will be able to regulate commerce down to the individual level -- “That no man might buy or sell” -Rev 13:17. Such individual control was impossible before the advent of computers.
Although computers had been invented during World War II, they were huge, bulky monsters that used notoriously unreliable and hugely inefficient vacuum tubes. The first computers were slower than a pocket calculator, filled huge environmentally sealed rooms and required enough electricity to power a small city.
That all changed in 1948 when Bell Labs invented the transistor chip, signaling the official birth of the Computer Age.
That final age would be marked by 'rumors of war' - Matt 24:7. The ultimate 'rumor of war' was the Cold War. It began with the Berlin Airlift of 1948. The Soviet collapse was a direct result of the cost of fighting the Cold War. The ongoing decline of US influence in the world is also related to the costs of that 'war'.
The power vacuum left by the simultaneous decline of each of these great powers is being filled by Europe, just as the Bible predicted.
Earthquakes began to show a marked increase in size, scope and intensity in 1948. The modern period of ethnos against ethnos can be traced to the death of colonialism beginning in 1948.
Increasing 'pestilence' or deadly disease, can be traced to 1948. Economic 'kingdoms' began with the first multinational corporations in 1948.
Legislation passed by the UN in 1948 like the UDHR and the UNCPR function today as the legal cornerstones of our developing globalist worldview and the disintegration of US Constitutional guarantees.
The decline in morality -- worldwide -- can arguably be placed at the feet of the current trend of devaluing human life to the degree that legislation permitting abortion and euthanasia are evidences of an 'advanced' society.
The Japanese Eugenics Act -- the first legal abortion on demand legislation ever passed in modern society -- was passed in
1948. American Margaret Sanger was so impressed with the idea that she founded the premier abortion rights advocacy group -- Planned Parenthood -- in 1948.
Let's not forget the other technological advances introduced in 1948 -- commercial television, holography, cybernetics, meteorology, the nuclear arms race, microelectronics and dozens of other advances that served to demystify the books of Daniel and the Revelation for this generation.
Add that to the social breakdown that followed the ouster of God from American education following McCollum vs. the board of education decision of 1948. Don't forget the contribution made to evolutionary theory by the introduction of the 'Big Bang' theory of 1948. That served to further alienate the concept of a Creator God from the American worldview.
2 Peter3:3 warns "that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation."
All these things taken in context point to one logical conclusion. This is the generation of whom Jesus was speaking when He said, "This generation shall not pass until ALL these things be fulfilled." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1948 AMERICA ISRAEL RELATIONS
LETTER TO THE USA TO RECOGNIZE ISRAEL AS A NATION
Independence of Israel (1) Letter From the Agent of the Provisional Government of Israel to the President of the United States, May 15, 1948
MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: I have the honor to notify you that the state of Israel has been proclaimed as an independent republic within frontiers approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations in its Resolution of November 29, 1947, and that a provisional government has been charged to assume the rights and duties of government for preserving law and order within the boundaries of Israel, for defending the state against external aggression, and for discharging the obligations of Israel to the other nations of the world in accordance with international law. The Act of Independence will become effective at one minute after six o'clock on the evening of 14 May 1948, Washington time.
With full knowledge of the deep bond of sympathy which has existed and has been strengthened over the past thirty years between the Government of the United States and the Jewish people of Palestine, I have been authorized by the provisional government of the new state to tender this message and to express the hope that your government will recognize and will welcome Israel into the community of nations.
Very respectfully yours,
ELIAHU EPSTEIN
Agent, Provisional Government of Israel
Notes:(1) Department of State Bulletin of May 23, 1948, p. 673.
On May 14, 1948, the United States accorded de facto recognition to Israel.
Back Source: A Decade of American Foriegn Policy : Basic Documents, 1941-49 Prepared at the request of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations By the Staff of the Committe and the Department of State. Washington, DC : Government Printing Office, 1950
AMERICA RECOGNIZES ISRAEL AS INDEPENDENT NATION
Press Release - U.S. Recognition of Israel (1948) By White House May 15, 2004, 9:39 pm
At midnight on May 14, 1948, the Provisional Government of Israel proclaimed a new State of Israel. On that same date, the United States, in the person of President Truman, recognized the provisional Jewish government as de facto authority of the Jewish state (de jure recognition was extended on January 31, 1949).
In 1917 Chaim Weizmann, scientist, statesperson, and supporter of the effort to establish a state of Israel, persuaded the British government to issue a statement favoring the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine. The statement, which became known as the Balfour Declaration, was, in part, payment to the Jews for their support of the British against the Turks during World War I. After the war, the League of Nations ratified the declaration and in 1922 appointed Britain to rule Palestine.
This course of events caused Jews to be optimistic about the eventual establishment of a homeland. Their optimism inspired the immigration to Palestine of Jews from many countries, particularly from Germany when Nazi persecution of Jews began. The arrival of many Jewish immigrants in the 1930s awakened Arab fears that Palestine would become a national homeland for the Jews. By 1936 guerrilla fighting had broken out between the Jews and the Arabs. Unable to maintain peace, Britain issued a white paper in 1939 that restricted Jewish immigration into Palestine. The Jews, feeling betrayed, bitterly opposed the policy and looked to the United States for support.
While President Franklin D. Roosevelt appeared to be sympathetic to the Jewish cause, his assurances to the Arabs that the United States would not intervene without consulting both parties caused public uncertainty about his position. When Harry S. Truman took office, he made clear that his sympathies were with the Jews and accepted the Balfour Declaration, explaining that it was in keeping with former President Woodrow Wilson's principle of "self-determination." Truman initiated several studies of the Palestine situation that supported his belief that, as a result of the Holocaust, Jews were oppressed and also in need of a homeland.
Throughout the Roosevelt and Truman administrations, the Departments of War and State, recognizing the possibility of a Soviet-Arab connection and the potential Arab restriction on oil supplies to this country, advised against U.S. intervention on behalf of the Jews. Britain and the United States, in a joint effort to examine the dilemma, established the "Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry." In April 1946 the committee submitted recommendations that Palestine not be dominated by either Arabs or Jews.
It concluded that attempts to establish nationhood or independence would result in civil strife; that a trusteeship agreement aimed at bringing Jews and Arabs together should be established by the United Nations; that full Jewish immigration be allowed into Palestine; and that two autonomous states be established with a strong central government to control Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and the Negev, the southernmost section of Palestine.
British, Arab, and Jewish reactions to the recommendations were not favorable. Britain, anxious to rid itself of the problem, set the United Nations in motion, formally requesting on April 2, 1947, that the UN General Assembly set up the Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP). This committee recommended that the British mandate over Palestine be ended and that the territory be partitioned into two states. Jewish reaction was mixesome wanted control of all of Palestine; others realized that partition spelled hope for their dream of a homeland. The Arabs were not at all agreeable to the UNSCOP plan.
In October the Arab League Council directed the governments of its member states to move troops to the Palestine border. Meanwhile, President Truman instructed the State Department to support the UN plan, and it reluctantly did so. On November 29, 1947, the partition plan was passed by the UN General Assembly.
At midnight on May 14, 1948, the Provisional Government of Israel proclaimed a new State of Israel. On that same date, the United States, in the person of President Truman, recognized the provisional Jewish government as de facto authority of the Jewish state (de jure recognition was extended on January 31, 1949). The U.S. delegates to the UN and top-ranking State Department officials were angered that Truman released his recognition statement to the press without notifying them first. On May 15, 1948, the first day of Israeli Independence and exactly one year after UNSCOP was established, Arab armies invaded Israel and the first Arab-Israeli war began.
Source: NARACitation: President Truman's statement recognizing the State of Israel, May 14, 1948. Charles Ross Papers, 1904-1967, Alphabetical Correspondence File: "Handwriting of the President," Harry S. Truman Library, National Archives and Records Administration.
NARA - Truman Press Release. Transcript of Press Release Announcing U.S. Recognition of Israel (1948) This Government has been informed that a Jewish state has been proclaimed in Palestine, and recognition has been requested by the provisional Government thereof.The United States recognizes the provision government as the de facto authority of the new State of Israel.
[Endorsement]
Approved, May 14, 1948.
Independence of Israel (1) Letter From the Agent of the Provisional Government of Israel to the President of the United States, May 15, 1948
MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: I have the honor to notify you that the state of Israel has been proclaimed as an independent republic within frontiers approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations in its Resolution of November 29, 1947, and that a provisional government has been charged to assume the rights and duties of government for preserving law and order within the boundaries of Israel, for defending the state against external aggression, and for discharging the obligations of Israel to the other nations of the world in accordance with international law. The Act of Independence will become effective at one minute after six o'clock on the evening of 14 May 1948, Washington time.
With full knowledge of the deep bond of sympathy which has existed and has been strengthened over the past thirty years between the Government of the United States and the Jewish people of Palestine, I have been authorized by the provisional government of the new state to tender this message and to express the hope that your government will recognize and will welcome Israel into the community of nations.
Very respectfully yours,
ELIAHU EPSTEIN
Agent, Provisional Government of Israel
Notes:(1) Department of State Bulletin of May 23, 1948, p. 673.
On May 14, 1948, the United States accorded de facto recognition to Israel.
Back Source: A Decade of American Foriegn Policy : Basic Documents, 1941-49 Prepared at the request of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations By the Staff of the Committe and the Department of State. Washington, DC : Government Printing Office, 1950
AMERICA RECOGNIZES ISRAEL AS INDEPENDENT NATION
Press Release - U.S. Recognition of Israel (1948) By White House May 15, 2004, 9:39 pm
At midnight on May 14, 1948, the Provisional Government of Israel proclaimed a new State of Israel. On that same date, the United States, in the person of President Truman, recognized the provisional Jewish government as de facto authority of the Jewish state (de jure recognition was extended on January 31, 1949).
In 1917 Chaim Weizmann, scientist, statesperson, and supporter of the effort to establish a state of Israel, persuaded the British government to issue a statement favoring the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine. The statement, which became known as the Balfour Declaration, was, in part, payment to the Jews for their support of the British against the Turks during World War I. After the war, the League of Nations ratified the declaration and in 1922 appointed Britain to rule Palestine.
This course of events caused Jews to be optimistic about the eventual establishment of a homeland. Their optimism inspired the immigration to Palestine of Jews from many countries, particularly from Germany when Nazi persecution of Jews began. The arrival of many Jewish immigrants in the 1930s awakened Arab fears that Palestine would become a national homeland for the Jews. By 1936 guerrilla fighting had broken out between the Jews and the Arabs. Unable to maintain peace, Britain issued a white paper in 1939 that restricted Jewish immigration into Palestine. The Jews, feeling betrayed, bitterly opposed the policy and looked to the United States for support.
While President Franklin D. Roosevelt appeared to be sympathetic to the Jewish cause, his assurances to the Arabs that the United States would not intervene without consulting both parties caused public uncertainty about his position. When Harry S. Truman took office, he made clear that his sympathies were with the Jews and accepted the Balfour Declaration, explaining that it was in keeping with former President Woodrow Wilson's principle of "self-determination." Truman initiated several studies of the Palestine situation that supported his belief that, as a result of the Holocaust, Jews were oppressed and also in need of a homeland.
Throughout the Roosevelt and Truman administrations, the Departments of War and State, recognizing the possibility of a Soviet-Arab connection and the potential Arab restriction on oil supplies to this country, advised against U.S. intervention on behalf of the Jews. Britain and the United States, in a joint effort to examine the dilemma, established the "Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry." In April 1946 the committee submitted recommendations that Palestine not be dominated by either Arabs or Jews.
It concluded that attempts to establish nationhood or independence would result in civil strife; that a trusteeship agreement aimed at bringing Jews and Arabs together should be established by the United Nations; that full Jewish immigration be allowed into Palestine; and that two autonomous states be established with a strong central government to control Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and the Negev, the southernmost section of Palestine.
British, Arab, and Jewish reactions to the recommendations were not favorable. Britain, anxious to rid itself of the problem, set the United Nations in motion, formally requesting on April 2, 1947, that the UN General Assembly set up the Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP). This committee recommended that the British mandate over Palestine be ended and that the territory be partitioned into two states. Jewish reaction was mixesome wanted control of all of Palestine; others realized that partition spelled hope for their dream of a homeland. The Arabs were not at all agreeable to the UNSCOP plan.
In October the Arab League Council directed the governments of its member states to move troops to the Palestine border. Meanwhile, President Truman instructed the State Department to support the UN plan, and it reluctantly did so. On November 29, 1947, the partition plan was passed by the UN General Assembly.
At midnight on May 14, 1948, the Provisional Government of Israel proclaimed a new State of Israel. On that same date, the United States, in the person of President Truman, recognized the provisional Jewish government as de facto authority of the Jewish state (de jure recognition was extended on January 31, 1949). The U.S. delegates to the UN and top-ranking State Department officials were angered that Truman released his recognition statement to the press without notifying them first. On May 15, 1948, the first day of Israeli Independence and exactly one year after UNSCOP was established, Arab armies invaded Israel and the first Arab-Israeli war began.
Source: NARACitation: President Truman's statement recognizing the State of Israel, May 14, 1948. Charles Ross Papers, 1904-1967, Alphabetical Correspondence File: "Handwriting of the President," Harry S. Truman Library, National Archives and Records Administration.
NARA - Truman Press Release. Transcript of Press Release Announcing U.S. Recognition of Israel (1948) This Government has been informed that a Jewish state has been proclaimed in Palestine, and recognition has been requested by the provisional Government thereof.The United States recognizes the provision government as the de facto authority of the new State of Israel.
[Endorsement]
Approved, May 14, 1948.
Sunday, January 29, 2006
1948 ISRAEL BECOMES AN INDEPENDENT NATION
II. Timeline of Israeli History in Short
Source: The Highlights of Israeli History from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
17th-6th C. BCE BIBLICAL TIMES c. 17th century BCE The Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob - patriarchs of the Jewish people and bearers of a belief in one
God - settle in the Land of Israel. Famine forces Israelites to migrate to Egypt.
c. 13th century BCE Exodus from Egypt: Moses leads Israelites from Egypt, followed by 40 years of wandering in the desert. Torah, including the Ten Commandments, received at Mount Sinai. .
13th-12th centuries BCE Israelites settle the Land of Israel
c. 1020 BCE Jewish Monarchy established; Saul, first king.
c. 1000 BCE Jerusalem made capital of David's kingdom.
c. 960 BCE First Temple, the national and spiritual center of the Jewish people, built in Jerusalem by King Solomon.
c. 930 BCE Divided kingdom: Judah and Israel
722-720 BCE Israel crushed by Assyrians; 10 tribes exiled (Ten Lost Tribes).
586 BCE Judah conquered by Babylonia; Jerusalem and First Temple destroyed; most Jews exiled to Babylonia.
536-142 BCE PERSIAN AND HELLENISTIC PERIODS
538-515 BCE Many Jews return from Babylonia; Temple rebuilt.
332 BCE Land conquered by Alexander the Great; Hellenistic rule.
166-160 BCE Maccabean (Hasmonean) revolt against restrictions on practice of Judaism and desecration of the Temple
142-129 BCE Jewish autonomy under Hasmoneans.
129-63 BCE Jewish independence under Hasmonean monarchy.
63 BCE Jerusalem captured by Roman general, Pompey.
63 BCE-313 CE ROMAN RULE
37 BCE - 4 CE Herod, Roman vassal king, rules the Land of Israel; Temple in Jerusalem refurbished
c 20-33 Ministry of Jesus of Nazareth
66 Jewish revolt against the Romans
70 Destruction of Jerusalem and Second Temple.
73 Last stand of Jews at Masada.
132-135 Bar Kokhba uprising against Rome.
c. 210 Codification of Jewish oral law (Mishnah) completed.
313-636 BYZANTINE RULE
313 The Roman emperor Constantin adopts Christianity and founds the Bysantine Empire; by the end of the century the Land of Israel becomes a predominantly Christian country.
c. 390 Commentary on the Mishnah (Jerusalem Talmud) completed.
614 Persian invasion
636-1099 ARAB RULE
636 The Land of Israel conquered by Arabs
691 On site of First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, Dome of the Rock built by Caliph Abd el-Malik
1099-1291 CRUSADER DOMINATION
1099 The army of the First Crusade capture Jerusalem, non-Christian population massacred; the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem established
1291-1516 MAMLUK RULE
1291 Mamluks - Muslem warriors from Egypt - drive Crusaders out of the Land of Israel.
1517-1917 OTTOMAN RULE
1517 The Turkish Ottoman Empire conquests the Land of Israel
1564 Code of Jewish law (Shulhan Arukh) published.
1860 First neighborhood, Mishkenot Sha'ananim, built outside Jerusalem's walls.
1882-1903 First Aliya (large-scale immigration), mainly from Russia; four more waves of immigration will follow till 1948
1897 First Zionist Congress convened by Theodor Herzl in Basel, Switzerland; Zionist Organization founded.
1909 First kibbutz, Degania, and first modern all-Jewish city, Tel Aviv, founded.
1917 400 years of Ottoman rule ended by British conquest; British Foreign Minister Balfour pledges support for establishment of a "Jewish national home in Palestine".
1918-48 BRITISH RULE
1920 Histadrut (Jewish labor federation) and Haganah (Jewish defense organization) founded. Vaad Leumi (National Council) set up by Jewish community (yishuv)to conduct its affairs.
1921 First moshav, Nahalal, founded.
1922 Britain granted Mandate for Palestine (Land of Israel) by League of Nations; Transjordan set up on three-fourths of the area, leaving one-fourth for the Jewish national home Jewish Agency representing Jewish community vis-a-vis Mandate authorities set up.
1924 Technion, first institute of technology, founded in Haifa.
1925 Hebrew University of Jerusalem opened on Mt. Scopus.
1929 Hebron Jews massacred by Arab militants.
1936-39 Anti-Jewish riots instigated by Arab militants.
1939 Jewish immigration severely limited by British White Paper.
1939-45 World War II; Holocaust in Europe.
1947 UN proposes the establishment of Arab and Jewish states in the Land.
1948 - STATE OF ISRAEL
1948 End of British Mandate (May 14) State of Israel proclaimed (May 14). Israel invaded by five Arab states (May 15) War of Independence (May 1948-July 1949) Israel Defense Forces (IDF) established
1949 Armistice agreements signed with Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon. Jerusalem divided under Israeli and Jordanian rule.
First Knesset (parliament) elected.
1948-52 Mass immigration from Europe and Arab countries.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE DECLARATION OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL May 14, 1948
On May 14, 1948, on the day in which the British Mandate over a Palestine expired, the Jewish People's Council gathered at the Tel Aviv Museum, and approved the following proclamation, declaring the establishment of the State of Israel. The new state was recognized that night by the United States and three days later by the USSR.
ERETZ-ISRAEL [(Hebrew) - the Land of Israel, Palestine] was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books. After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom.
Impelled by this historic and traditional attachment, Jews strove in every successive generation to re-establish themselves in their ancient homeland. In recent decades they returned in their masses. Pioneers, ma'pilim [(Hebrew) - immigrants coming to Eretz-Israel in defiance of restrictive legislation] and defenders, they made deserts bloom, revived the Hebrew language, built villages and towns, and created a thriving community controlling its own economy and culture, loving peace but knowing how to defend itself, bringing the blessings of progress to all the country's inhabitants, and aspiring towards independent nationhood.
In the year 5657 (1897), at the summons of the spiritual father of the Jewish State, Theodore Herzl, the First Zionist Congress convened and proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to national rebirth in its own country. This right was recognized in the Balfour Declaration of the 2nd November, 1917, and re-affirmed in the Mandate of the League of Nations which, in particular, gave international sanction to the historic connection between the Jewish people and
Eretz-Israel and to the right of the Jewish people to rebuild its National Home.
The catastrophe which recently befell the Jewish people - the massacre of millions of Jews in Europe - was another clear demonstration of the urgency of solving the problem of its homelessness by re-establishing in Eretz-Israel the Jewish State, which would open the gates of the homeland wide to every Jew and confer upon the Jewish people the status of a fully
privileged member of the comity of nations.
Survivors of the Nazi holocaust in Europe, as well as Jews from other parts of the world, continued to migrate to Eretz-Israel, undaunted by difficulties, restrictions and dangers, and never ceased to assert their right to a life of dignity, freedom and honest toil in their national homeland. In the Second World War, the Jewish community of this country contributed its full share to the struggle of the freedom- and peace-loving nations against the forces of Nazi wickedness and, by the blood of its soldiers and its war effort, gained the right to be reckoned among the peoples who founded the United Nations.
On the 29th November, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish State in Eretz-Israel; the General Assembly required the inhabitants of Eretz-Israel to take such steps as were necessary on their part for the implementation of that resolution. This recognition by the United Nations of the right of the
Jewish people to establish their State is irrevocable. This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State.
ACCORDINGLY WE, MEMBERS OF THE PEOPLE'S COUNCIL, REPRESENTATIVES OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF ERETZ-ISRAEL AND OF THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT, ARE HERE ASSEMBLED ON THE DAY OF THE TERMINATION OF THE BRITISH MANDATE OVER ERETZ-ISRAEL AND, BY VIRTUE OF OUR NATURAL AND HISTORIC RIGHT AND ON THE STRENGTH OF THE RESOLUTION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, HEREBY DECLARE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A JEWISH STATE IN ERETZ-ISRAEL, TO BE KNOWN AS THE STATE OF ISRAEL. WE DECLARE that, with effect from the moment of the termination of the Mandate being tonight, the eve of Sabbath, the 6th Iyar, 5708 (15th May, 1948), until the establishment of the elected, regular authorities of the State in accordance with the Constitution which shall be adopted by the Elected Constituent Assembly not later than the 1st October 1948, the People's Council shall act as a Provisional Council of State, and its executive organ, the People's Administration, shall be the Provisional Government of the Jewish State, to be called "Israel".
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
THE STATE OF ISRAEL is prepared to cooperate with the agencies and representatives of the United Nations in implementing the resolution of the General Assembly of the 29th November, 1947, and will take steps to bring about the economic union of the whole of Eretz-Israel. WE APPEAL to the United Nations to assist the Jewish people in the building-up of its State and to receive the State of Israel into the comity of nations.
WE APPEAL - in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months - to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.
WE EXTEND our hand to all neighbouring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighbourliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is prepared to do its share in a common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East.
WE APPEAL to the Jewish people throughout the Diaspora to rally round the Jews of Eretz-Israel in the tasks of immigration and upbuilding and to stand by them in the great struggle for the realization of the age-old dream - the redemption of Israel.
PLACING OUR TRUST IN THE "ROCK OF ISRAEL", WE AFFIX OUR SIGNATURES TO THIS PROCLAMATION AT THIS SESSION OF THE PROVISIONAL COUNCIL OF STATE, ON THE SOIL OF THE HOMELAND, IN THE CITY OF TEL-AVIV, ON THIS SABBATH EVE, THE 5TH DAY OF IYAR, 5708 (14TH MAY,1948).
David Ben-Gurion
Daniel Auster
Mordekhai Bentov
Yitzchak Ben Zvi
Eliyahu Berligne
Fritz Bernstein
Rabbi Wolf Gold
Meir Grabovsky
Yitzchak Gruenbaum
Dr. Abraham Granovsky
Eliyahu Dobkin
Meir Wilner-Kovner
Zerach Wahrhaftig
Herzl Vardi
Rachel Cohen
Rabbi Kalman Kahana
Saadia Kobashi
Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Levin
Meir David Loewenstein
Zvi Luria
Golda Myerson
Nachum Nir
Zvi Segal
Rabbi Yehuda Leib
Hacohen Fishman
David Zvi Pinkas
Aharon Zisling
Moshe Kolodny
Eliezer Kaplan
Abraham Katznelson
Felix Rosenblueth
David Remez
Berl Repetur
Mordekhai Shattner
Ben Zion Sternberg
Bekhor Shitreet
Moshe Shapira
Moshe Shertok
Published in the Official Gazette, No. 1 of the 5th, Iyar, 5708 (14th May, 1948).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Israel Becomes a State
November, 1947 to May,1948
Following the United Nations' vote, the British and Arabs wasted no time preparing to make it impossible for the Jews to declare an independent state. From November 30, 1947 to May 14, 1948, the Arabs waged an unofficial war against the Yishuv. Soldiers from Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt stole into the country to organize Arab attack forces. The Arab Legion, Jordan's army, was under British protection, and it joined attacks prior to British evacuation.
The only fighting forces that the Yishuv had were the Haganah and the two terrorist groups, the Irgun and the Stern Gang. They were all forced ot work underground because Britain declared it illegal for Jews to own or carry weapons. There were constant inspections, check points, and patrols all trying to disarm the Jews. It is estimated that the entire Yishuv possessed 1,300 guns.
The Yishuv became a military camp. Almost every member of the population was in some way involved in the Haganah and other defense units. The Haganah policy form November through March was: "Defend every outpost, every settlement. Don't give anything up. the fighting stops here." The Palmach sent units and, occasionly, individual men and women to help protect
attacked points.
The first major battle took place at kibbutz Tirat Tzvi, which was attacked by thousands of Syrian and Iraqi irregulars. The kibbutz repulsed the attack. The winding road up to Jerusalem became the site of bloody massacres as food convoys were attacked at Sha'ar HaGai. To this day, the rusted ruins of the destroyed trucks remind Israelis of the sacrifices made to keep
Jerusalem from starving.
The Old City of Jerusalem was cut off from the New City, and the Arabs systematically starved the Jewish inhabitants. The British sat and watched, waiting for the Yishuv to admit defeat.
In March 1949, the Haganah policy changed. Although they had no artillery, the Yishuv had smuggled enough small arms into the country to begin an offensive against the Arabs. Their first goal was to open the road to Jerusalem.
In a surprise raid, 1,500 men (more than half of all available fighters in the entire Yishuv) cleared the hills above the road to Jerusalem. The dominating fort, Kastel, was taken, lost, and retaken. In the battle, the Arab's favorite commander was killed. A large convoy rushed supplies to Jerusalem. During that operation, the Irgun attacked an Arab village, Deir Yassin. More than 200 villagers were killed, including women and children.
On April 13, the Arabs slaughtered and mutilated a convoy of 100 doctors and nurses heading for Hadassah Medical Center. The British did nothing. It was a brutal time. Fighting continued in the north. Haifa and Tiberius fell to the Yishuv. Using a home-made mortar, the Davidka (named after its inventor, David Leibovitch), the Haganah attacked and took Tzfat. Although inaccurate, the Davidka created a great deal of noise which frightened the Arab population into fleeing. All of this fighting took place while the British were still officially in charge of the country.
The Yishuv was in trouble politically as well. The U.S. State Department was planning to remove its vote from the UN resolution on Palestine, arguing that the declaration of a Jewish state would result in a massacre of the Jews. Chaim Weizmann hurried to Washington to speak with President Truman about keeping faith with the Yishuv. With the help of Truman's friend Eddie Jacobson, Weizmann succeeded in meeting with the president. Truman promised that the United States would continue to support the UN resolution.
As May 15 approached, the Yishuv had to decide whether they should proclaim an independent Jewish state. One side rightly pointed out that when the Yishuv declared itself a state, five well-equipped, very angry Arab armies would attack with planes, tanks, and artillery. The Jews had no large weapons and no air force. There could be a massacre. As if to emphasize this point, news reached the meetings in May that the Arab Legion had succeeded in destroying Gush Etzion, a group of settlements just south of Jerusalem.
The majority view, however, was to take the opportunity for a state because there might never be another. After a long debate, the committee agreed to name the country The Republic of Israel (it was soon changed to "The State of Israel). It was agreed that the word "God" would not appear in the Declaration of Independence; the term "Rock of Israel" appeared instead.
One of the few humorous difficulties was an organizational one. The day scheduled for the end of the Mandate turned out to be a Saturday, the Shabbat.
A Jewish state couldn't declare itself on a Shabbat. On the 5th of Iyar--May 14, 1948-- the British left Palestine, officially ending the Mandate. Just before sundown, David Ben Gurion read the new Declaration of the State of Israel. HaTikvah, the national anthem, was played. Eleven minutes later, President Truman officially recognized the state of Israel and was followed almost immediately by the USSR. For the first time since Bar Kochba, Jews had their own country.
On the day after Israel declared statehood, the armies of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia attacked the new Jewish state.
Military strategists were in agreement: there was no way for Israel to win. The British had
succeeded in limiting the number of Israel's weapons. Israel had four anti-tank guns when war broke out. The British had left almost all of the high defense fortresses and police stations in the hands of the Arabs, so they held most of the high ground. The most serious problem, however, was numbers. There were only 600,000 Jews in Israel. They had already lost more than
900 people in the "pre-war war."
They faced a potential force of 30 million Arabs. The Irgun agreed to join the no-longer
underground Haganah, which provided Israel with a fighting army of 51,000 men and women.
Atlthough the War of Independence lasted officially until February of the next year, the war was decided by June 11, 1948. Egypt attacked the Negev with a large tank force and bombed Tel Aviv daily. The scattered settlements between Egypt and Tel Aviv put up desperate resistance.
Kibbutz Yad Mordechai held out for six days. Kibbutz Negba was never taken. Egypt's
drive was halted fourteen miles south of Tel Aviv. The Syrian army was stopped at kibbutz Degania by settlers who used Molotov cocktails, a flame thrower, and one anti-tank gun.
The Jordanian army was stopped in its attempt to cut the coastal plain in two. The Lebanese army was pushed back in the Western Galilee.
After tremendous fighting, the Arab Legion was pushed back from the New City of Jerusalem. However, the Old City was isolated, and Israel couldn't get supplies or reinforcements through. The Jordanians slowly squeezed the fighters into a tiny clump of houses, systematically destroying every building they took. On May 28, 1,300 civilians and 40 Haganah defenders
surrendered, the only major victory that the Arab armies were able to claim. Jerusalem remained divided from May 28, 1948 until June 1967.
The situation in the New City of Jerusalem was very serious. The Arabs blocked the road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by holding the police station at Latrun. After two desperate attacks failed (in which more than 700 ill-equipped and ill-trained new immigrants were slaughtered), Israel began considering the horror of losing Jerusalem. Led by an American colonel, David "Mickey" Marcus, the Israelis found a way to save their spiritual heart. Following a shepherd's path lost for centuries, the Israelis flattened out a road which went around Latrun and enabled them to send food convoys to Jerusalem.
The first convoy arrived on June 11, the date of the first truce. In July, the Israeli army went on the offensive. They took the high defense fortresses in the north. They surrounded the
Egyptian army and took the Negev. Their only failure followed repeated attempts to take the Old City of Jerusalem. By February 1949, Israel held the entire coastal plain, the Negev, the Galilee, and a portion of the Sinai Peninsula. Jordan held the Old City, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank of the Jordan River and incorporated them into Jordan. No Palestinian state
came into being.
It was a miraculous military victory which stunned world strategists. Israel had survived and became the fifty-ninth member of the United Nations. By the summer of 1949, under the direction of the United Nations Acting Mediator Ralph Bunche, Israel signed armistice agreements with her Arab neighbors and returned the Sinai to Egypt. For his efforts in the negotiations, Ralph Bunche received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950.
Since May 14, 1948, Israel has celebrated becoming the Jewish State on the 5th of Iyar which corresponds to May 14, 1948.
Source: The Highlights of Israeli History from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
17th-6th C. BCE BIBLICAL TIMES c. 17th century BCE The Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob - patriarchs of the Jewish people and bearers of a belief in one
God - settle in the Land of Israel. Famine forces Israelites to migrate to Egypt.
c. 13th century BCE Exodus from Egypt: Moses leads Israelites from Egypt, followed by 40 years of wandering in the desert. Torah, including the Ten Commandments, received at Mount Sinai. .
13th-12th centuries BCE Israelites settle the Land of Israel
c. 1020 BCE Jewish Monarchy established; Saul, first king.
c. 1000 BCE Jerusalem made capital of David's kingdom.
c. 960 BCE First Temple, the national and spiritual center of the Jewish people, built in Jerusalem by King Solomon.
c. 930 BCE Divided kingdom: Judah and Israel
722-720 BCE Israel crushed by Assyrians; 10 tribes exiled (Ten Lost Tribes).
586 BCE Judah conquered by Babylonia; Jerusalem and First Temple destroyed; most Jews exiled to Babylonia.
536-142 BCE PERSIAN AND HELLENISTIC PERIODS
538-515 BCE Many Jews return from Babylonia; Temple rebuilt.
332 BCE Land conquered by Alexander the Great; Hellenistic rule.
166-160 BCE Maccabean (Hasmonean) revolt against restrictions on practice of Judaism and desecration of the Temple
142-129 BCE Jewish autonomy under Hasmoneans.
129-63 BCE Jewish independence under Hasmonean monarchy.
63 BCE Jerusalem captured by Roman general, Pompey.
63 BCE-313 CE ROMAN RULE
37 BCE - 4 CE Herod, Roman vassal king, rules the Land of Israel; Temple in Jerusalem refurbished
c 20-33 Ministry of Jesus of Nazareth
66 Jewish revolt against the Romans
70 Destruction of Jerusalem and Second Temple.
73 Last stand of Jews at Masada.
132-135 Bar Kokhba uprising against Rome.
c. 210 Codification of Jewish oral law (Mishnah) completed.
313-636 BYZANTINE RULE
313 The Roman emperor Constantin adopts Christianity and founds the Bysantine Empire; by the end of the century the Land of Israel becomes a predominantly Christian country.
c. 390 Commentary on the Mishnah (Jerusalem Talmud) completed.
614 Persian invasion
636-1099 ARAB RULE
636 The Land of Israel conquered by Arabs
691 On site of First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, Dome of the Rock built by Caliph Abd el-Malik
1099-1291 CRUSADER DOMINATION
1099 The army of the First Crusade capture Jerusalem, non-Christian population massacred; the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem established
1291-1516 MAMLUK RULE
1291 Mamluks - Muslem warriors from Egypt - drive Crusaders out of the Land of Israel.
1517-1917 OTTOMAN RULE
1517 The Turkish Ottoman Empire conquests the Land of Israel
1564 Code of Jewish law (Shulhan Arukh) published.
1860 First neighborhood, Mishkenot Sha'ananim, built outside Jerusalem's walls.
1882-1903 First Aliya (large-scale immigration), mainly from Russia; four more waves of immigration will follow till 1948
1897 First Zionist Congress convened by Theodor Herzl in Basel, Switzerland; Zionist Organization founded.
1909 First kibbutz, Degania, and first modern all-Jewish city, Tel Aviv, founded.
1917 400 years of Ottoman rule ended by British conquest; British Foreign Minister Balfour pledges support for establishment of a "Jewish national home in Palestine".
1918-48 BRITISH RULE
1920 Histadrut (Jewish labor federation) and Haganah (Jewish defense organization) founded. Vaad Leumi (National Council) set up by Jewish community (yishuv)to conduct its affairs.
1921 First moshav, Nahalal, founded.
1922 Britain granted Mandate for Palestine (Land of Israel) by League of Nations; Transjordan set up on three-fourths of the area, leaving one-fourth for the Jewish national home Jewish Agency representing Jewish community vis-a-vis Mandate authorities set up.
1924 Technion, first institute of technology, founded in Haifa.
1925 Hebrew University of Jerusalem opened on Mt. Scopus.
1929 Hebron Jews massacred by Arab militants.
1936-39 Anti-Jewish riots instigated by Arab militants.
1939 Jewish immigration severely limited by British White Paper.
1939-45 World War II; Holocaust in Europe.
1947 UN proposes the establishment of Arab and Jewish states in the Land.
1948 - STATE OF ISRAEL
1948 End of British Mandate (May 14) State of Israel proclaimed (May 14). Israel invaded by five Arab states (May 15) War of Independence (May 1948-July 1949) Israel Defense Forces (IDF) established
1949 Armistice agreements signed with Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon. Jerusalem divided under Israeli and Jordanian rule.
First Knesset (parliament) elected.
1948-52 Mass immigration from Europe and Arab countries.
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THE DECLARATION OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL May 14, 1948
On May 14, 1948, on the day in which the British Mandate over a Palestine expired, the Jewish People's Council gathered at the Tel Aviv Museum, and approved the following proclamation, declaring the establishment of the State of Israel. The new state was recognized that night by the United States and three days later by the USSR.
ERETZ-ISRAEL [(Hebrew) - the Land of Israel, Palestine] was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books. After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom.
Impelled by this historic and traditional attachment, Jews strove in every successive generation to re-establish themselves in their ancient homeland. In recent decades they returned in their masses. Pioneers, ma'pilim [(Hebrew) - immigrants coming to Eretz-Israel in defiance of restrictive legislation] and defenders, they made deserts bloom, revived the Hebrew language, built villages and towns, and created a thriving community controlling its own economy and culture, loving peace but knowing how to defend itself, bringing the blessings of progress to all the country's inhabitants, and aspiring towards independent nationhood.
In the year 5657 (1897), at the summons of the spiritual father of the Jewish State, Theodore Herzl, the First Zionist Congress convened and proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to national rebirth in its own country. This right was recognized in the Balfour Declaration of the 2nd November, 1917, and re-affirmed in the Mandate of the League of Nations which, in particular, gave international sanction to the historic connection between the Jewish people and
Eretz-Israel and to the right of the Jewish people to rebuild its National Home.
The catastrophe which recently befell the Jewish people - the massacre of millions of Jews in Europe - was another clear demonstration of the urgency of solving the problem of its homelessness by re-establishing in Eretz-Israel the Jewish State, which would open the gates of the homeland wide to every Jew and confer upon the Jewish people the status of a fully
privileged member of the comity of nations.
Survivors of the Nazi holocaust in Europe, as well as Jews from other parts of the world, continued to migrate to Eretz-Israel, undaunted by difficulties, restrictions and dangers, and never ceased to assert their right to a life of dignity, freedom and honest toil in their national homeland. In the Second World War, the Jewish community of this country contributed its full share to the struggle of the freedom- and peace-loving nations against the forces of Nazi wickedness and, by the blood of its soldiers and its war effort, gained the right to be reckoned among the peoples who founded the United Nations.
On the 29th November, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish State in Eretz-Israel; the General Assembly required the inhabitants of Eretz-Israel to take such steps as were necessary on their part for the implementation of that resolution. This recognition by the United Nations of the right of the
Jewish people to establish their State is irrevocable. This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State.
ACCORDINGLY WE, MEMBERS OF THE PEOPLE'S COUNCIL, REPRESENTATIVES OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF ERETZ-ISRAEL AND OF THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT, ARE HERE ASSEMBLED ON THE DAY OF THE TERMINATION OF THE BRITISH MANDATE OVER ERETZ-ISRAEL AND, BY VIRTUE OF OUR NATURAL AND HISTORIC RIGHT AND ON THE STRENGTH OF THE RESOLUTION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, HEREBY DECLARE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A JEWISH STATE IN ERETZ-ISRAEL, TO BE KNOWN AS THE STATE OF ISRAEL. WE DECLARE that, with effect from the moment of the termination of the Mandate being tonight, the eve of Sabbath, the 6th Iyar, 5708 (15th May, 1948), until the establishment of the elected, regular authorities of the State in accordance with the Constitution which shall be adopted by the Elected Constituent Assembly not later than the 1st October 1948, the People's Council shall act as a Provisional Council of State, and its executive organ, the People's Administration, shall be the Provisional Government of the Jewish State, to be called "Israel".
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
THE STATE OF ISRAEL is prepared to cooperate with the agencies and representatives of the United Nations in implementing the resolution of the General Assembly of the 29th November, 1947, and will take steps to bring about the economic union of the whole of Eretz-Israel. WE APPEAL to the United Nations to assist the Jewish people in the building-up of its State and to receive the State of Israel into the comity of nations.
WE APPEAL - in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months - to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.
WE EXTEND our hand to all neighbouring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighbourliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is prepared to do its share in a common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East.
WE APPEAL to the Jewish people throughout the Diaspora to rally round the Jews of Eretz-Israel in the tasks of immigration and upbuilding and to stand by them in the great struggle for the realization of the age-old dream - the redemption of Israel.
PLACING OUR TRUST IN THE "ROCK OF ISRAEL", WE AFFIX OUR SIGNATURES TO THIS PROCLAMATION AT THIS SESSION OF THE PROVISIONAL COUNCIL OF STATE, ON THE SOIL OF THE HOMELAND, IN THE CITY OF TEL-AVIV, ON THIS SABBATH EVE, THE 5TH DAY OF IYAR, 5708 (14TH MAY,1948).
David Ben-Gurion
Daniel Auster
Mordekhai Bentov
Yitzchak Ben Zvi
Eliyahu Berligne
Fritz Bernstein
Rabbi Wolf Gold
Meir Grabovsky
Yitzchak Gruenbaum
Dr. Abraham Granovsky
Eliyahu Dobkin
Meir Wilner-Kovner
Zerach Wahrhaftig
Herzl Vardi
Rachel Cohen
Rabbi Kalman Kahana
Saadia Kobashi
Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Levin
Meir David Loewenstein
Zvi Luria
Golda Myerson
Nachum Nir
Zvi Segal
Rabbi Yehuda Leib
Hacohen Fishman
David Zvi Pinkas
Aharon Zisling
Moshe Kolodny
Eliezer Kaplan
Abraham Katznelson
Felix Rosenblueth
David Remez
Berl Repetur
Mordekhai Shattner
Ben Zion Sternberg
Bekhor Shitreet
Moshe Shapira
Moshe Shertok
Published in the Official Gazette, No. 1 of the 5th, Iyar, 5708 (14th May, 1948).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Israel Becomes a State
November, 1947 to May,1948
Following the United Nations' vote, the British and Arabs wasted no time preparing to make it impossible for the Jews to declare an independent state. From November 30, 1947 to May 14, 1948, the Arabs waged an unofficial war against the Yishuv. Soldiers from Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt stole into the country to organize Arab attack forces. The Arab Legion, Jordan's army, was under British protection, and it joined attacks prior to British evacuation.
The only fighting forces that the Yishuv had were the Haganah and the two terrorist groups, the Irgun and the Stern Gang. They were all forced ot work underground because Britain declared it illegal for Jews to own or carry weapons. There were constant inspections, check points, and patrols all trying to disarm the Jews. It is estimated that the entire Yishuv possessed 1,300 guns.
The Yishuv became a military camp. Almost every member of the population was in some way involved in the Haganah and other defense units. The Haganah policy form November through March was: "Defend every outpost, every settlement. Don't give anything up. the fighting stops here." The Palmach sent units and, occasionly, individual men and women to help protect
attacked points.
The first major battle took place at kibbutz Tirat Tzvi, which was attacked by thousands of Syrian and Iraqi irregulars. The kibbutz repulsed the attack. The winding road up to Jerusalem became the site of bloody massacres as food convoys were attacked at Sha'ar HaGai. To this day, the rusted ruins of the destroyed trucks remind Israelis of the sacrifices made to keep
Jerusalem from starving.
The Old City of Jerusalem was cut off from the New City, and the Arabs systematically starved the Jewish inhabitants. The British sat and watched, waiting for the Yishuv to admit defeat.
In March 1949, the Haganah policy changed. Although they had no artillery, the Yishuv had smuggled enough small arms into the country to begin an offensive against the Arabs. Their first goal was to open the road to Jerusalem.
In a surprise raid, 1,500 men (more than half of all available fighters in the entire Yishuv) cleared the hills above the road to Jerusalem. The dominating fort, Kastel, was taken, lost, and retaken. In the battle, the Arab's favorite commander was killed. A large convoy rushed supplies to Jerusalem. During that operation, the Irgun attacked an Arab village, Deir Yassin. More than 200 villagers were killed, including women and children.
On April 13, the Arabs slaughtered and mutilated a convoy of 100 doctors and nurses heading for Hadassah Medical Center. The British did nothing. It was a brutal time. Fighting continued in the north. Haifa and Tiberius fell to the Yishuv. Using a home-made mortar, the Davidka (named after its inventor, David Leibovitch), the Haganah attacked and took Tzfat. Although inaccurate, the Davidka created a great deal of noise which frightened the Arab population into fleeing. All of this fighting took place while the British were still officially in charge of the country.
The Yishuv was in trouble politically as well. The U.S. State Department was planning to remove its vote from the UN resolution on Palestine, arguing that the declaration of a Jewish state would result in a massacre of the Jews. Chaim Weizmann hurried to Washington to speak with President Truman about keeping faith with the Yishuv. With the help of Truman's friend Eddie Jacobson, Weizmann succeeded in meeting with the president. Truman promised that the United States would continue to support the UN resolution.
As May 15 approached, the Yishuv had to decide whether they should proclaim an independent Jewish state. One side rightly pointed out that when the Yishuv declared itself a state, five well-equipped, very angry Arab armies would attack with planes, tanks, and artillery. The Jews had no large weapons and no air force. There could be a massacre. As if to emphasize this point, news reached the meetings in May that the Arab Legion had succeeded in destroying Gush Etzion, a group of settlements just south of Jerusalem.
The majority view, however, was to take the opportunity for a state because there might never be another. After a long debate, the committee agreed to name the country The Republic of Israel (it was soon changed to "The State of Israel). It was agreed that the word "God" would not appear in the Declaration of Independence; the term "Rock of Israel" appeared instead.
One of the few humorous difficulties was an organizational one. The day scheduled for the end of the Mandate turned out to be a Saturday, the Shabbat.
A Jewish state couldn't declare itself on a Shabbat. On the 5th of Iyar--May 14, 1948-- the British left Palestine, officially ending the Mandate. Just before sundown, David Ben Gurion read the new Declaration of the State of Israel. HaTikvah, the national anthem, was played. Eleven minutes later, President Truman officially recognized the state of Israel and was followed almost immediately by the USSR. For the first time since Bar Kochba, Jews had their own country.
On the day after Israel declared statehood, the armies of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia attacked the new Jewish state.
Military strategists were in agreement: there was no way for Israel to win. The British had
succeeded in limiting the number of Israel's weapons. Israel had four anti-tank guns when war broke out. The British had left almost all of the high defense fortresses and police stations in the hands of the Arabs, so they held most of the high ground. The most serious problem, however, was numbers. There were only 600,000 Jews in Israel. They had already lost more than
900 people in the "pre-war war."
They faced a potential force of 30 million Arabs. The Irgun agreed to join the no-longer
underground Haganah, which provided Israel with a fighting army of 51,000 men and women.
Atlthough the War of Independence lasted officially until February of the next year, the war was decided by June 11, 1948. Egypt attacked the Negev with a large tank force and bombed Tel Aviv daily. The scattered settlements between Egypt and Tel Aviv put up desperate resistance.
Kibbutz Yad Mordechai held out for six days. Kibbutz Negba was never taken. Egypt's
drive was halted fourteen miles south of Tel Aviv. The Syrian army was stopped at kibbutz Degania by settlers who used Molotov cocktails, a flame thrower, and one anti-tank gun.
The Jordanian army was stopped in its attempt to cut the coastal plain in two. The Lebanese army was pushed back in the Western Galilee.
After tremendous fighting, the Arab Legion was pushed back from the New City of Jerusalem. However, the Old City was isolated, and Israel couldn't get supplies or reinforcements through. The Jordanians slowly squeezed the fighters into a tiny clump of houses, systematically destroying every building they took. On May 28, 1,300 civilians and 40 Haganah defenders
surrendered, the only major victory that the Arab armies were able to claim. Jerusalem remained divided from May 28, 1948 until June 1967.
The situation in the New City of Jerusalem was very serious. The Arabs blocked the road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by holding the police station at Latrun. After two desperate attacks failed (in which more than 700 ill-equipped and ill-trained new immigrants were slaughtered), Israel began considering the horror of losing Jerusalem. Led by an American colonel, David "Mickey" Marcus, the Israelis found a way to save their spiritual heart. Following a shepherd's path lost for centuries, the Israelis flattened out a road which went around Latrun and enabled them to send food convoys to Jerusalem.
The first convoy arrived on June 11, the date of the first truce. In July, the Israeli army went on the offensive. They took the high defense fortresses in the north. They surrounded the
Egyptian army and took the Negev. Their only failure followed repeated attempts to take the Old City of Jerusalem. By February 1949, Israel held the entire coastal plain, the Negev, the Galilee, and a portion of the Sinai Peninsula. Jordan held the Old City, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank of the Jordan River and incorporated them into Jordan. No Palestinian state
came into being.
It was a miraculous military victory which stunned world strategists. Israel had survived and became the fifty-ninth member of the United Nations. By the summer of 1949, under the direction of the United Nations Acting Mediator Ralph Bunche, Israel signed armistice agreements with her Arab neighbors and returned the Sinai to Egypt. For his efforts in the negotiations, Ralph Bunche received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950.
Since May 14, 1948, Israel has celebrated becoming the Jewish State on the 5th of Iyar which corresponds to May 14, 1948.
Saturday, January 28, 2006
1933-47 JEWISH FLIGHT FROM PERSECUTION
April 15, 1936 The Arab Revolt breaks out. Over the next three years, more than 1,000 Arabs and 400 Jews die in killings, bombings, and armed attacks, and in the efforts of British forces to stop the revolt.
July 7, 1937 The British-organized Peel Commission issues report recommending partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states as solution to the ongoing conflict.
Nazism, strikes and boycotts1937 The rise of Nazism in Europe reinvigorated Zionism, and the British raised Jewish immigration quotas for Palestine from about 5,000 in 1932 to about 62,000 in three years. Fearing the Jews would seize control, Arabs launched a series of strikes and boycotts. A British commission concluded that Palestine should be partitioned into Jewish, Arab and British states, something the Zionists accepted reluctantly. But the Arabs, enraged that they might be removed forcibly from the proposed Jewish state, rejected the idea.
For 12 years between 1933 and 1945, in what would later be referred to as the Holocaust, Germany's Adolf Hitler persecuted Jews and other minorities. The Nazis systematically killed an estimated 6 million Jews.
May 17, 1939 In White Paper, Great Britain abandons support for Jewish state in Palestine, establishes ceiling for Jewish immigration to Palestine of 75,000 over next five years.
Sept. 1, 1939 World War II begins.
War, Holocaust and partition1939-47 Jewish refugees from the Holocaust flooded into Palestine during World War II, their plight stirring support for a Jewish state. The Arabs formed the Arab League as a counterweight to Zionism, and in 1947 the United Nations voted to divide Palestine into Arab and Jewish states, the latter occupying 55 percent of the land west of the Jordan River. Jerusalem was designated as an international enclave.
Feb. 1, 1944 The Irgun, a Jewish underground armed group under the command of future Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, announces the resumption of operations against British forces in Palestine.
July 22, 1944 The Irgun bombs the King David Hotel, the British military and administrative headquarters in Jerusalem. Ninety are killed.
Nov. 29, 1947 The United Nations General Assembly votes in favor of the partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab territories.
Nov. 30, 1947 Skirmishing breaks out in Palestine between Jewish and local Arab armed groups.
1947-48 Partition
In November 1947 the United Nations ordered the partition of Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state, and the end of the British Mandate by May 15, 1948. The Arab powers of the Middle East rejected the partition plan, and hours after Zionist leader David Ben-Gurion declared Israel a state on May 14, the forces of Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Transjordan and Lebanon invaded the new country.
Bitter fighting ensued, but by July 1949 Israel had repulsed the invasion, established borders similar to Palestine under the mandate, joined the United Nations, and been recognized by more than 50 governments around the world.
July 7, 1937 The British-organized Peel Commission issues report recommending partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states as solution to the ongoing conflict.
Nazism, strikes and boycotts1937 The rise of Nazism in Europe reinvigorated Zionism, and the British raised Jewish immigration quotas for Palestine from about 5,000 in 1932 to about 62,000 in three years. Fearing the Jews would seize control, Arabs launched a series of strikes and boycotts. A British commission concluded that Palestine should be partitioned into Jewish, Arab and British states, something the Zionists accepted reluctantly. But the Arabs, enraged that they might be removed forcibly from the proposed Jewish state, rejected the idea.
For 12 years between 1933 and 1945, in what would later be referred to as the Holocaust, Germany's Adolf Hitler persecuted Jews and other minorities. The Nazis systematically killed an estimated 6 million Jews.
May 17, 1939 In White Paper, Great Britain abandons support for Jewish state in Palestine, establishes ceiling for Jewish immigration to Palestine of 75,000 over next five years.
Sept. 1, 1939 World War II begins.
War, Holocaust and partition1939-47 Jewish refugees from the Holocaust flooded into Palestine during World War II, their plight stirring support for a Jewish state. The Arabs formed the Arab League as a counterweight to Zionism, and in 1947 the United Nations voted to divide Palestine into Arab and Jewish states, the latter occupying 55 percent of the land west of the Jordan River. Jerusalem was designated as an international enclave.
Feb. 1, 1944 The Irgun, a Jewish underground armed group under the command of future Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, announces the resumption of operations against British forces in Palestine.
July 22, 1944 The Irgun bombs the King David Hotel, the British military and administrative headquarters in Jerusalem. Ninety are killed.
Nov. 29, 1947 The United Nations General Assembly votes in favor of the partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab territories.
Nov. 30, 1947 Skirmishing breaks out in Palestine between Jewish and local Arab armed groups.
1947-48 Partition
In November 1947 the United Nations ordered the partition of Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state, and the end of the British Mandate by May 15, 1948. The Arab powers of the Middle East rejected the partition plan, and hours after Zionist leader David Ben-Gurion declared Israel a state on May 14, the forces of Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Transjordan and Lebanon invaded the new country.
Bitter fighting ensued, but by July 1949 Israel had repulsed the invasion, established borders similar to Palestine under the mandate, joined the United Nations, and been recognized by more than 50 governments around the world.
1929 LATERAN TREATY (VATICAN)
Lateran Pacts of 1929
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The Lateran Pacts of 1929 contained three sections—the Treaty of Conciliation (27 articles) which established Vatican City as an independent state, restoring the civil sovereignty of the Pope as a monarch, the Financial Convention annexed to the treaty (3 articles) which compensated the Holy See for loss of the papal states, and the Concordat (45 articles), which dealt with the Roman Catholic Church's ecclesiastical relations with the Italian State.
An Agreement Between the Italian Republic and the Holy See amended the Lateran Pacts in 1985.
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1. CONCILIATION TREATY +
IN the name of the Most Holy Trinity.
Whereas the Holy See and Italy have recognized the desirability of eliminating every reason for dissension existing between them and arriving at a final settlement of their reciprocal relations which shall be consistent with justice and with the dignity of both High Contracting Parties, and which by permanently assuring to the Holy See a position de facto and de jure which shall
guarantee absolute independence for the fulfillment of its exalted mission in the world, permits the Holy See to consider as finally and irrevocably settled the Roman Question which arose in 1870 by the annexation of Rome to the Kingdom of Italy, under the Dynasty of the House of Savoy; And whereas it was obligatory, for the purpose of assuring the absolute and visible independence of the Holy See, likewise to guarantee its indisputable sovereignty in international matters, it has been found necessary to create under special conditions the Vatican City, recognizing the full ownership, exclusive and absolute dominion and sovereign jurisdiction of the
Holy See over that City;
His Holiness the Supreme Pontiff Pius XI and His Majesty Victor Emanuel III, King of Italy, have agreed to conclude a Treaty, appointing for that purpose two Plenipotentiaries, being on behalf of His Holiness, His Secretary of State, viz. His Most Reverend Eminence the Lord Cardinal Pietro Gasparri, and on behalf of his Majesty, His Excellency the Cav. Benito
Mussolini, Prime Minister and Head of the Government; who, having exchanged their respective full powers, which were found to be in due and proper form, have hereby agreed to the following articles:
Article 1
Italy recognizes and reaffirms the principle established in the first Article of the Italian Constitution dated March 4, 1848, according to which the Catholic Apostolic Roman religion is the only State religion.
Article 2
Italy recognizes the sovereignty of the Holy See in international matters as an inherent attribute in conformity with its traditions and the requirements of its mission to the world.
Article 3
Italy recognizes the full ownership, exclusive dominion, and sovereign authority and jurisdiction of the Holy See over the Vatican as at present constituted, together with all its appurtenances and endowments, thus creating the Vatican City, for the special purposes and under the conditions hereinafter referred to.
The boundaries of the said City are set forth in the map called Annex I of the present Treaty, of which it is forms an integral part. It is furthermore agreed that, although forming part of the Vatican City, St. Peter's Square shall continue to be normally open to the public and shall be subject to supervision by the Italian police authorities, which powers shall cease to operate at
the foot of the steps leading to the Basilica, although the latter shall continue to be used for public worship. The said authorities shall, therefore, abstain from mounting the steps and entering the said Basilica, unless and except they are requested to do so by the proper authorities.
Should the Holy See consider it necessary, for the purpose of special ceremonies, temporarily to prohibit the public from free access to St. Peter's Square, the Italian authorities shall (unless specially requested to do otherwise) withdraw to beyond the outer lines of Bernini's Colonnade and the extension thereof.
Article 4
The sovereignty and exclusive jurisdiction over the Vatican City, which Italy recognizes as appertaining to the Holy See, forbid any intervention therein on the part of the Italian Government, or that any authority other than that of the Holy See shall be there acknowledged.
Article 5
For the purpose of the execution of the provisions of the preceding Article before the present Treaty comes into force, the Italian Government shall see to it that the territory forming the Vatican City shall remain free from any charge and from possible occupants. The Holy See shall arrange to enclose the access thereto, enclosing such parts thereof as remain open, except St. Peter's Square. It is furthermore agreed that, in respect of the buildings there existing and belonging to religious institutions or bodies, the Holy See shall settle relations with the latter direct, the Italian Government having no part in such arrangements.
Article 6
Italy shall provide, by means of suitable agreements entered into with the interested parties, that an adequate water supply be fully assured to the Vatican City. Italy shall furthermore provide for connection with the State railways by constructing a railway station within the Vatican City on the spot shown on the annexed map, and by permitting the circulation of railway carriages belonging to the Vatican on the Italian railways. It shall further provide for direct connection with other States by means of telegraph, telephone, wireless, broadcasting, and postal services in the Vatican City. It shall equally also provide for the coordination of all other public services.
All expenses connected with the arrangements above mentioned shall be defrayed by the Italian State, within the period of one year from the entry into force of the present Treaty. The Holy See shall, at its own expense, arrange the existing means of access to the Vatican, and those others which it may consider it necessary to make in the future. Agreements shall be subsequently concluded between the Holy See and Italy concerning the circulation, on and over Italian territory, of land vehicles and aircraft belonging to the Vatican City.
Article 7
The Italian Government undertakes to prohibit the construction within the territory surrounding the Vatican City, of any new buildings which might overlook the latter, and shall for a like purpose provide for the partial demolition of similar buildings already standing near the Porta Cavalleggeri and along the Via Aurelia and the Viale Vaticano. In accordance with the provisions of International Law, it shall be forbidden for aircraft of any kind whatsoever to fly over Vatican territory.
On the Piazza Rusticucci, and in the areas adjoining the Colonnade, over which the extra-territoriality referred to in Article 15 hereof does not extend, all structural alterations or street construction shall only be effected by mutual assent.
Article 8
Considering the person of the Supreme Pontiff to be sacred and inviolable, Italy declares any attempt against His person or any incitement to commit such attempt to be punishable by the same penalties as all similar attempts and incitements to commit the same against the person of the King. All offences or public insults committed within Italian territory against the person of the Supreme Pontiff, whether by means of speeches, acts, or writings, shall be punished in the same manner as offences and insults against the person of the King.
Article 9
In accordance with the provisions of International Law, all persons having a permanent residence within the Vatican City shall be subject to the sovereignty of the Holy See. Such residence shall not be forfeited by reason of the mere fact of temporary residence elsewhere, unaccompanied by the loss of habitation in the said City or other circumstances proving that
such residence has been abandoned. On ceasing to be subject to the sovereignty of the Holy See, the persons referred to in the preceding paragraph, who, according to the provisions of Italian law (independently of the de facto circumstances considered above) shall not be regarded
as possessing any other citizenship, shall be regarded in Italy as Italian nationals.
Notwithstanding that all such persons are subject to the sovereignty of the Holy See, the provisions of Italian law shall be applicable to them within the territory of the Kingdom of Italy, even in such matters wherein the personal law must be observed (when they are not covered by the regulations emanating from the Holy See) and, in the case of persons of foreign nationality, the legal provisions of the State to which they belong.
Article 10
Such dignitaries of the Church and persons belonging to the Papal Court as shall be indicated in a Schedule to be approved by the High Contracting Parties, shall always and in every case, even when not citizens of the Vatican, be exempt from military service as far as Italy is concerned, jury service, and any other service of a personal nature. This provision shall also apply to regular officials whose services are considered indispensable by the Holy See, if permanently employed by the latter and earning a fixed salary, or employed in the Departments or Offices mentioned in Articles 13, 14, 15, and 16 hereof and residing without the Vatican City. The names of such officials shall be set forth in another Schedule to be drawn up and approved as above mentioned, and which shall be brought up to date each year by the Holy See.
The ecclesiastics whose duty it shall be to participate, without the Vatican City, in the execution of enactments emanating from the Holy See, shall not, on that account, be subject to any hindrance, investigation, or molestation on the part of the Italian authorities. All foreigners in official ecclesiastical employment in Rome shall enjoy the personal guarantees appertaining to Italian citizens, in accordance with the laws of the Kingdom of Italy.
Article 11
All central bodies of the Catholic Church shall be exempt from any interference on the part of the Italian State (save and except as provided by Italian law in regard to the acquisition of property made by corpi morali, [recognized public bodies] and with regard to the conversion of real estate.)
Article 12
Italy recognizes the right of the Holy See to passive and active Legation, according to the general rules of International Law. Officials accredited by foreign Governments to the Holy See shall continue to enjoy, within the Kingdom of Italy, all the prerogatives of immunity enjoyed by diplomatic agents under International Law, and their headquarters may continue to be
within Italian territory whilst enjoying the immunity due to them under International Law, even in the event of their State not having diplomatic relations with Italy.
It is understood that Italy undertakes in all cases to allow the freedom of correspondence for all States, including belligerents, to and from the Holy See, as well as free access to the Apostolic See by Bishops from all over the world. The High Contracting Parties undertake to establish normal diplomatic relations between each other, by accrediting an Italian Ambassador to the Holy See and a Papal Nuncio to Italy, who shall be the doyen of the Diplomatic Corps, in
accordance with the ordinary practice recognized by the Congress of Vienna by the Act of June 9, 1815, in consequence of the sovereignty hereby recognized and without prejudice to the provisions of Article 19 hereof, the diplomats accredited by the Holy See and the diplomatic couriers dispatched in the name of the Supreme Pontiff, shall enjoy within Italian territory, even in time of war, the same treatment as that enjoyed by diplomatic personages and couriers of other foreign Governments, according to the provisions of International Law.
Article 13
Italy recognizes the full ownership of the Holy See over the patriarchal Basilicas of St. John Lateran, Sta. Maria Maggiore, and St. Paul, with their annexed buildings. The State transfers to the Holy See the free management and administration of the said Basilica of St. Paul and its
dependent Monastery, also paying over to the Holy See all monies representing the sums set aside annually for that church in the budget of the Ministry of Education. It is also understood that the Holy See shall remain the absolute owner of the edifice of S. Callisto, adjoining Sta. Maria in Trastevere.
Article 14
Italy recognizes the full ownership by the Holy See of the Papal Palace of Castel Gandolfo, together with all endowments, appurtenances, and dependencies thereof, which are now already in the possession of the Holy See, and Italy also undertakes to hand over, within six months after the coming into force of the present Treaty, the Villa Barberini in Castel Gandolfo, together with all endowments, appurtenances, and dependencies thereof. In order to round off the property situated on the northern side of the Janiculum Hill, belonging to the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide and to other ecclesiastical institutions, which property faces the Vatican Palaces, the State undertakes to transfer to the Holy See or other bodies appointed by it for such purpose, all real estate belonging to the State or to third parties existing in that area. The properties belonging to the said Congregation and to other institutions and those to be transferred being marked on the annexed map.
Finally, Italy shall transfer to the Holy See, as its full and absolute property, the Convent buildings in Rome attached to the Basilica of the Twelve Holy Apostles and to the churches of San Andrea della Valle and S. Carlo ai Catinari, with all annexes and dependencies thereof, and shall hand them over within one year after the entry into force of the present Treaty, free of all
occupants.
Article 15
The property indicated in Article 13 hereof and in paragraphs (1) and (2) of Article 14, as well as the Palaces of the Dataria, of the Cancelleria, of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide in the Piazza di Spagna of the S. Offizio with its annexes, and those of the Convertendi (now the Congregation of the Eastern Church) in Piazza Scossacavelli, the Vicariato, and all other edifices in which the Holy See shall subsequently desire to establish other offices and departments although such edifices form part of the territory belonging to the Italian State, shall enjoy the immunity granted by International Law to the headquarters of the diplomatic agents of foreign States. Similar immunity shall also apply with regard to any other churches (even if situated outside Rome) during such time as, without such churches being open to the public, the Supreme Pontiff shall take part in religious ceremonies celebrated therein.
Article 16
The property mentioned in the three preceding Articles, as also that used as headquarters of the following Papal institutions - the Gregorian University, the Biblical, Oriental, and Archaeological Institutes, the Russian Seminary, the Lombard College, the two Palaces of St. Apollinaris, and the Home of the Retreat of the Clergy dedicated to St. John and St. Paul - shall never be subject to charges or to expropriation for reasons of public utility, save by previous agreement with the Holy See, and shall be exempt from any contribution or tax, whether ordinary or extraordinary and payable to the State or to any other body. It shall be permissible for the Holy See to deal with all buildings above mentioned or referred to in the three preceding
Articles as it may deem fit, without obtaining the authorization or consent of the Italian governmental, provincial, or communal authority, which authorities may in this regard rely entirely on the high artistic traditions of the Catholic Church.
Article 17
As from January 1, 1929, salaries of whatsoever nature payable by the Holy See, or by other central bodies of the Catholic Church and by bodies administered directly by the Holy See whether within or without Rome to dignitaries employed and salaried (whether permanently or not, shall be exempt from any contribution or tax whether payable to the State or to any
other body.
Article 18
The artistic and scientific treasures existing within the Vatican City and the Lateran Palace shall remain open to scholars and visitors, although the Holy See shall be free to regulate the admission of the public thereto.
Article 19
Diplomats and envoys of the Holy See, as well as diplomats and envoys of foreign Governments accredited to the Holy See, and the dignitaries of the Church arriving from abroad and traveling to the Vatican City, provided with passports of the States whence they come duly furnished with the visa of the Papal representative abroad, shall be allowed free access to the Vatican City over Italian territory without formalities.
Article 20
Goods arriving from abroad for destinations within the Vatican City, or without it boundaries for institutions or offices of the Holy See, shall invariably be allowed transit over Italian territory (from any part of the Italian boundary as also from any seaport of the Kingdom) free of payment of any customs or octroi dues.
Article 21
All Cardinals shall enjoy, in Italy, the honours due to Princes of the Blood. Those Cardinals who may reside in Rome without the Vatican City shall, for all purposes, be considered citizens thereof. In the event of the office of the Holy See falling vacant, Italy shall make special arrangements for the free transit and access of Cardinals over Italian territory to the Vatican, and shall provide that their personal liberty is not impeded or limited. Italy shall also take all measures, within her territory surrounding the Vatican City, necessary to prevent the commission of any act which may in any way disturb the meetings of the Conclave. The same provisions shall apply to Conclave held beyond the boundaries of the Vatican City and to Councils presided over by the Supreme Pontiff or his Legates, and with regard to all Bishops summoned to attend them.
Article 22
At the request of the Holy See, or by its delegate who may be appointed in single cases or permanently, Italy shall provide within her for the punishment of offences committed within the Vatican City, save and except when the author of the offence shall have taken refuge in Italian territory, in which event he shall immediately be proceeded against according to the
provisions of the Italian laws. The Holy See shall hand over to the Italian State all persons who may have taken refuge within the Vatican City, when accused of acts committed within Italian territory which are considered to be criminal by the law of both States.
The same provisions shall apply in regard to persons accused of offences who may have taken refuge within the buildings enjoying immunity in accordance with the provisions of Article 15 hereof, save and except if the persons having authority within such buildings prefer to request members of the Italian police force to enter and arrest such persons.
Article 23
The regulations provided by International Law shall apply for the execution, within the Kingdom of Italy, of sentences pronounced by the Courts of the Vatican City. All sentences and measures emanating from ecclesiastical authorities and officially communicated to the civil authorities, in regard to ecclesiastical or religious persons and concerning spiritual or disciplinary matters, shall without other formality have legal effect in Italy even for all civil purposes.
Article 24
In regard to the sovereignty appertaining to it also in international matters, the Holy See declares that it desires to take, and shall take, no part in any temporal rivalries between other States, nor in any international congresses called to settle such matters, save and except in the event of such parties making a mutual appeal to the pacific mission of the Holy See, the latter
reserving in any event the right of exercising its moral and spiritual power. The Vatican City shall, therefore, be invariably and in every event considered as neutral and inviolable territory.
Article 25
By a special Convention written below and united to the present Treaty, which constitutes the IV codicil to the same and forms an integral part thereof, provision shall be made for the liquidation of the credit of the Holy See towards Italy. ±
Article 26
The Holy See considers that the agreements signed to-day offer an adequate guarantee for assuring to it, together with the requisite liberty and independence, the pastoral administration of the Roman Diocese and the Catholic Church throughout Italy and the entire world, and it declares the Roman Question to be definitely and irrevocably settled and therefore eliminated, and recognizes the Kingdom of Italy under the Dynasty of the House of Savoy, with Rome as the capital of the Italian State. Italy, on her part, recognizes the State of the Vatican City under the sovereignty of the Supreme Pontiff.
The law dated May 13, 1871 (No. 214) and any other dispositions contrary to the present Treaty, are hereby abrogated.
Article 27
Within four months after the signature thereof, the present Treaty shall be submitted for ratification by the Supreme Pontiff and the King of Italy, and shall enter into force as soon as ratifications are exchanged.
Dated in Rome this 11th day of February, 1929.
(Signed) PIETRO CARDINAL GASPARRIBENITO MUSSOLINI
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2. THE FINANCIAL CONVENTION ANNEXED TO THE TREATY ±
The Holy See and Italy having in consequence of the stipulations of the Treaty which has definitely composed ' the Roman Question ' held it necessary to regulate with a distinct convention, forming an integral part of the same, their financial relations; The supreme Pontiff considering on the one hand the immense damage sustained by the Apostolic See through the loss of the patrimony of S. Peter constituted by the ancient Pontifical States, and of the Ecclesiastical property, and on the other side, the ever-increasing needs of the Church in the City of Rome alone, and taking into consideration the present financial condition of the State and the economic condition of the Italian people, especially after the war, has deemed it well to restrict the request for indemnity to the barest necessity; asking for a sum partly in cash and partly in bonds which is much inferior in value to the which the State to-day should disperse towards the Holy See if only in execution of the obligation assumed by the law of May 13, 1871.
The Italian State appreciating the paternal sentiments of the Supreme Pontiff has felt bound to adhere to the request for the payment of the said sum.
Art. 1. Italy, on the exchange of ratifications of the Treaty, shall pay to the Holy See the sum of Italian lire 750,000,000 (seven hundred and fifty millions) and a the same time consign Italian 5 per cent bonds (with coupons, June 30) of the nominal value of Italian lire 1,000,000.
Art. 2. The Holy See declares that it accepts the above as a definite systemization of the financial relations with Italy in consequence of the events of 1870.
Art. 3. All the acts necessary for the execution of the Treaty with regard to the present Convention and of the Concordat shall be exempt from every form of taxation.
Rome, eleventh February, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-nine.
PIETRO CARD. GASPARRI.BENITO MUSSOLINI.
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3. THE CONCORDAT ±
IN the name of the Most Holy Trinity.
Seeing that from the beginning of the negotiations between the Holy See and Italy for the solution of ' the Roman Question ' the Holy See itself has proposed that the Treaty relating to the said question should be accompanied, as its necessary complement, by a Concordat to regulate the conditions of religion and the Church in Italy. Seeing that to-day a Treaty has been concluded and signed for the solution of ' the Roman Question.' His Holiness the Supreme Pontiff Pius XI and His Majesty Vittorio Emanuele III, King of Italy, have resolved to make a
Concordat and to that end have nominated the same Plenipotentaries delegated for the stipulation of the Treaty, that is: on the part of His Holiness, His Eminence the Most Reverend Lord Cardinal Pietro Gasparri, his Secretary of State; and on the part of His Majesty, His Excellency Cav. Benito Mussolini, Prime Minister and head of the Government, who having exchanged their full powers and found them to be in good and due form, have agreed upon the following articles:
Art. 1. Italy, in the sense of Art. I of the Treaty, assures the Catholic Church of the free exercise of her spiritual power, the free and public exercise of worship, and of jurisdiction in Ecclesiastical matters in conformity with the norm of the present Concordat, and when it occurs, accords to Ecclesiastics for the ads of their spiritual ministry defence on the part of its authority. In consideration of the sacred character of the Eternal City, the Episcopal See of the Sovereign Pontiff, centre of the Catholic world and place of pilgrimage, the Italian Government will take care to impede in Rome whatsoever may be in opposition with its said character.
Art. 2. The Holy See shall communicate and correspond freely with the Bishops and clergy of the whole Catholic world without any interference on the part of the Italian Government.
Equally in everything that concerns their pastoral ministry the Bishops shall communicate and correspond freely with their clergy and all the faithful. Like the Holy See the Bishops can freely publish and affix within and to the external doors of buildings destined for public worship or for the offices of their ministry, instructions, ordinances, pastoral letters, diocesan bulletins and other ads concerning the spiritual government of the faithful which they see fit to issue in the sphere of their competence. Such publications and affixions and in general all the acts and documents relative to the spiritual government of the faithful shall not be subject to any taxation. Such publications as regards the Holy See may be made in any language, those of the Bishops in Italian or Latin, but besides the Italian text the Ecclesiastical Authority can adjoin translations into other languages. The Ecclesiastical Authorities can, without any interference on the part of the Civil Authorities, make collections within and at the doors of the churches and buildings belonging to them.
Art. 3. Theological students in the last two years of their theological course devoted to the priesthood, and novices of religious institutions can, at their request, put off from year to year until the twenty-sixth year of their age the fulfilment of the obligation of military service.
Clerics ordained ' in sacris ' and religious who have made their vows are exempt from military service, saving the case of a general mobilization. In such case the priests pass into the armed forces of the State, but conserve their ecclesiastical habits in order to exercise amongst the troops their sacred ministry under the ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the military ordinary in the
sense of Art. 14. The other clerics and religious of preference shall be destined to military service. Nevertheless, even in the case of a general mobilization, those priests are dispensed from the call to present themselves who have cure of souls. As such are considered ordinaries, parish priests, vice-parish priests and coadjutors, vicars and priests permanently appointed to rectories and churches open to the public.
Art. 4. Ecclesiastics and religious are exempt from serving on juries.
Art. 5. No Ecclesiastic may be employed or remain in the employment of an office of the Italian State or any public entity depending from the same without the nihil obstat of the Diocesan ordinary. The revocation of the nihil obstat deprives the Ecclesiastic of the capacity of continuing to exercise the employment or office which he has assumed. In any case, apostate priests, or those subject to censure, cannot be appointed or continued as teachers, or hold office or be employed as clerks where they are in immediate contact with the public.
Art. 6. The stipends and the other assignments which Ecclesiastics enjoy by reason of their office are open to mortgages in the same measure as the stipends and assignments of clerks in the offices of the State.1
1 Stipendiaries of the State are allowed to mortgage one-fifth of their salaries.
Art. 7. Ecclesiastics cannot be required by magistrates or other authorities to give information concerning persons or matters which have come to their knowledge by reason of their sacred ministry.
Art. 8. In case of an Ecclesiastic or religious being brought before a magistrate for some crime, the Procurator of the King must immediately inform the ordinary of the diocese in the territory of which he exercises jurisdiction, and ought care- fully to transmit to the office of the same the instructional decrees, and where necessary the definitive sentence of the judgment both
in the first grade and also on appeal. In case of the arrest of an Ecclesiastic or religious he shall be treated with the regard due to his hierarchical grade. In the case of the condemnation of an Ecclesiastic or religious the punishment shall be performed in a place separate from
that for lay people, unless the competent ordinary shall have already reduced the condemned person to the lay state.
Art. 9. Regularly buildings open for public worship shall be exempt from requisitions and occupation. If in consequence of a grave public necessity it is necessary to occupy a building open for worship, the authority which proceeds to the occupation should have come to a previous accord with the ordinary, unless the reasons are of such absolute urgency as to prevent it. In such a case the authority should immediately proceed to inform the same (i.e. the ordinary). Saving cases of urgent necessity, the public forces shall not in the exercise of their functions enter any building open for worship, without giving previous notice to the Ecclesiastical Authority.
Art. 10. For no cause whatsoever is it possible to proceed to the demolition of a building open for worship without previous accord with the competent Ecclesiastical Authority.
Art. 11. The State recognizes the Feast-days established by the Church, which are the following:
All Sundays. The first day of the year. The Epiphany (January 6). The Feast of S. Joseph (March 19). The Ascension. The Feast of Corpus Domini. The Feast of SS. Peter and Paul (June 29). The Assumption of the B.V. Mary (August 15). All Saints' Day (November 1). The Feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8). Christmas Day (December 25).
Art. 12. On Sundays and feasts of precept in churches which have a chapter, the celebrant shall sing at the Conventual Mass according to the norm of the Sacred Liturgy a prayer for the prosperity of the King of Italy and for the Italian State.
Art. 13. The Italian Government shall give to the Holy See a table of the Ecclesiastics enrolled in the work of spiritual assistance to the military forces of the State as soon as they are approved in the mode of law. The designation of the Ecclesiastics to whom is committed the high direction of the service of spiritual assistance (the military ordinary, the Vicar-General and the inspectors) shall be made confidentially by the Holy See to the Italian Government. Whenever the Italian Government has reason to oppose such designation, it shall communicate the fact to the Holy See, which shall proceed to another designation. The military ordinary shall have Archiepiscopal rank. The nomination of the military chaplains shall be made by the competent authority of the Italian state upon the designation of the military ordinary.
Art. 14. The Italian troops by land, sea and air shall enjoy in regard to their religious duties the privileges and exemptions sanctioned by Canon Law. The military chaplains in regard to the said troops have parochial authority. They shall exercise their sacred ministry under the jurisdiction of the military ordinary assisted by his proper curia. The military ordinary has jurisdiction also over the religious, both masculine and feminine, engaged as workers in the
military hospitals.
Art. 15. The military Archiepiscopal ordinary is Provost of the Chapter of the Church of the Pantheon in Rome, constituted by his clergy, to whom is entrusted the religious service of the said Basilica. Such clergy are authorized to provide for all the religious functions, even outside Rome, which in conformity with the Canon Law are required by the State or by the Royal
House. The Holy See consents to confer on all the canons composing the Chapter of the Pantheon the dignity of Protonotaries ad instar durante munere. Their nomination shall be made by the Cardinal Vicar of Rome after presentation by the King of Italy, a confidential indication being given previous to presentation. The Holy See reserves to itself the right to transfer the Diaconia to another church.
Art. 16. The High Contracting Parties shall proceed to an accord by means of a mixed commission for the revision of the boundaries of the dioceses for the purpose of rendering them more in agreement with those of the provinces of the State. Moreover the Holy See shall erect the diocese of Zara, and no part of the territory subject to the Sovereignty of the Kingdom
of Italy shall be subject to a bishop whose seat is found in territory subject to the Sovereignty of another State, and no Diocese of the Kingdom shall include territory subject to the Sovereignty of another State. The same principle shall be observed for all the existing parishes as for those to be constituted in the territory near the confines of the State. The modifications which after the enquiry shall be deemed necessary to arrange the boundaries of the dioceses, shall be
disposed by the Holy See in previous accord with the Italian Government, and in observance of the direction expressed above, saving small rectifications of territory required for the good of souls.
Art. 17. The reduction of dioceses that may result from the application of the preceding Article, shall be brought into force as the said dioceses become vacant. The said reduction shall not import the suppression of the titles of the dioceses, nor their Chapters, which shall be
conserved when regrouping the dioceses in such a mode that the chief place therein shall correspond with that of the province. The said reductions shall leave the economic resources of the dioceses and of the Ecclesiastical entities existing in the same unchanged, including the assignments from the Italian State.
Art. 18. By disposition of the Ecclesiastical Authority the parishes shall be regrouped provisionally or definitively, entrusting them to one parish priest assisted by one or more curates uniting in one presbytery several priests. The State shall maintain unaltered the economic treatment of the said parishes.
Art. 19. The choice of Archbishops and Bishops belongs to the Holy See. First before proceeding to the nomination of an Archbishop, a Diocesan Bishop or a coadjutor with right of succession, the Holy See shall communicate the name of the person chosen to the italian Government so as to be assured by the same that it has no reason of a political character to offer against the nomination. The relative practice shall be performed with the greatest possible care and with every reserve so that the name of the person chosen shall remain secret.
Art. 20. Bishops before taking possession of their dioceses shall take an oath of fidelity to the head of the State according to the following formula: Before God and his Holy Gospels I swear and promise on becoming a Bishop fidelity to the Italian State. I swear and promise to respect and make respected by my clergy the King and the Government established according to the
constitutional laws of the State. I swear and promise moreover that I shall not participate in any agreement or any counsel that can damage the Italian State and the public order and I shall not allow to my clergy such participation. I shall concern myself with the well-being and interests of the Italian State and endeavour to avert any danger that can possibly menace it.
Art. 21. The provision of Ecclesiastical benefices belongs to the Ecclesiastical Authority.
The nomination of those invested with parochial benefices shall be communicated under reserve by the competent Ecclesiastical Authority to the Italian Government, and cannot have effect until thirty days from the date of the communication. Within this period the Italian Government shall where grave reasons are opposed to the nomination manifest them under reserve to the Ecclesiastical Authority, and if the dissent continues shall bring the case before the Holy See.
When Crave reasons arise which render the continuance of an Ecclesiastic in a determined parochial benefice injurious, the Italian Government shall communicate such reasons to the ordinary who in accord with the Government shall take the appropriate measures within three months thereof. In case of divergences between the ordinary and the Government, the Holy See shall entrust the solution of the question to two Ecclesiastics chosen by it, who in accord with two delegates of the Italian Government shall take a definitive decision.
Art. 22. Ecclesiastics who are not Italian citizens cannot be invested with the existing benefices in Italy. Those in charge of dioceses or parishes must speak the Italian language. Where necessary they shall have helpers assigned to them who, besides Italian, understand and speak the language locally in use, for the purpose of giving religious assistance in that language to the faithful according to the rules of the Church.
Art. 23. The dispositions of Articles 16, 17, 19, 20, 21 and 22 do not apply to Rome and the suburban dioceses. But the Holy See shall proceed to a new arrangement of the said dioceses, the assignments at present being made by the Italian State both of their revenues and of the other Ecclesiastical Institutions shall remain unchanged.
Art. 24. The exequatur and the Royal placet are abolished, and any Cæsarean or Royal nomination in the matter of the appointment to any Ecclesiastical benefices or offices throughout Italy, saving the exceptions made by Art. 29, letter g.
Art. 25. The Italian State renounces the sovereign prerogative of the Royal patronage of benefices both major and minor. Likewise the regalia1 over major or minor benefices and the terzo pensionabile2 in the provinces of the Kingdom of the two Sicilies is abolished.
1 Regalia. The right on the part of the Crown to appropriate to itself the income of Ecclesiastical benefices during the period they remain vacant.
2 Terso pensionabile. The right of the State to apply a third part of the income of a benefice in favour of persons designated by itself. Such rights were in force in the provinces of the former Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The relative burdens cease to be chargeable to the State and to the dependent administrations.
Art. 26. The nomination to the possession of the major or manor benefices and of the temporary representative of the vacant See or benefice has the effect of the said Ecclesiastical provision, in which the Government officially participates. The administration and enjoyment of the revenues during the vacancy shall be arranged according to the norm of Canon Law. In the case of bad management the Italian State in accord with the Ecclesiastical Authority shall proceed to the
sequestration of the temporalities of the benefice, devoting the net revenues in favour of the possessor, or in his absence to the advantage of the benefice.
Art. 27. The Basilicas of the Holy House at Loreto, of S. Francis at Assisi and of S. Antony at Padua, with the buildings and works annexed, except those of a purely lay character, shall be ceded to the Holy See and their administration shall belong to the same. They shall be free from every interference by the State and from the conversion of other entities of whatsoever
nature under the management of the Holy See, even the Missionary Colleges. In any case the Italian law regarding the acquisitions of moral corporations remains in force. With regard to the property now belonging to the said sanctuaries, a mixed commission shall proceed to deal with their distribution, having regard to the rights of third parties and to the necessary endowment of the said works of a lay character. For the other sanctuaries in which a lay administration exists, these shall be replaced by the management of the Ecclesiastical Authority, saving the case of the distribution of the property according to the norm of the preceding paragraph.
Art. 28. For the tranquillization of consciences the Holy See accords a full condonation to all those who in consequence of the Italian laws changing the Ecclesiastical patrimony, are found in possession of Ecclesiastical property. For such purpose the Holy See shall give the ordinaries the opportune instructions.
Art. 29. The Italian State shall revise its legislation in so far as it concerns Ecclesiastical matters, reforming and reintegrating them in order to bring them into harmony with the direction which inspires the Treaty with the Holy See and the present Concordat. It remains now for the two High Contracting Parties to agree the following :
(a) The personality of the Ecclesiastical entities already recognised by the Italian law (the Holy See, Dioceses, Chapters, Seminaries, parishes, etc.) shall remain unchanged. Such personality shall be recognized also in churches open to public worship which at present do not enjoy it, composing those that formerly belonged to Ecclesiastical entities now suppressed, with the assignment in regard to these last of the revenue actually destined to each one from the Fund of Public Worship. Saving what is settled in the previous Art. 27, the council of administration wheresoever existing, and even if wholly or in part composed of lay persons, shall not interfere in the service of public worship, and the nomination of those composing the administration shall be made in agreement with the Ecclesiastical Authority.
(b) The juridical personality of those religious congregations shall be recognized, with or without votes, approved by the Holy See, which have their principal house within the Kingdom, and are there represented juridically and in fad by persons who are of Italian citizenship and are domiciled in Italy. The juridical personality shall also be recognized of the Italian religious provinces of those associations having their principal house abroad within the limits of the State and its colonies? when the same conditions concur. The Juridical personality of houses, when the particular rules of each order attributes to them the right of acquisition and possession, shall likewise be recognized. Finally shall be recognized the houses of the Generals, and the procurators of religious associations, including those abroad. The religious houses and associations which at present enjoy juridical personality shall conserve the same. The acts relating to the transfer of the property to which the associations now come into possession from the present owners to the association shall be exempt from any taxation.
(c) The confraternities exclusively or principally devoted to worship and which are not subject to ulterior transformation as regards their purpose, depend on the Ecclesiastical Authority for what concerns their functioning and administration.
(d) The foundation of religious worship of any kind is permitted provided that it responds to the needs of the people, and imposes no financial burden on the State. These dispositions apply to such as are already in existence.
(e) In the civil administration of Ecclesiastical patrimony resulting from the aversive laws half the council of administration shall be composed of members designated by the Ecclesiastical Authority, and likewise for the religious funds of the new provinces.
(f) The acts computed up to the present by Ecclesiastical or religious entities, without the observance of the civil law, shall be recognized and regularized by the Italian State at the request of the ordinary if presented within three years from the entry into force of this Concordat.
(g) The Italian State renounces the exemption from Ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the palatine clergy in all Italy (saving for those belonging to the Church of the Santa Sindone of Turin di Superga, and of the Sudario of Rome and the chapels annexed to the palaces which are occupied by the Sovereign and the Royal princes) entering all the nominations and provisions of
benefices and offices under the norm of the preceding Articles. An appropriate commission shall provide for the assignment to any basilica or palatine Church of a suitable endowment according to the criteria indicated for the property of the sanctuaries in Art. 27.
(h) The tributary facilities already established by Italian law in forms of Ecclesiastical entities at present existing shall remain in force; the scope of worship and religion is for all tributary effects made equal to the scope of beneficence and education. The extraordinary tax of 30 per cent imposed by Art. 18 of the law of August 15, 1867, n. 2848, the quota of concourse of which see Art. 31 of the law of July 7, 1866, n. 3036, and Article 20 of the law of August 15, 1867, n. 3848, are abolished; also the tax on the passage of interest of property constituting the endowment of benefices and other Ecclesiastical entities established by Art.
I of the Royal Decree, December 30, 1923, n. 3270, and for the future the institution of any special tribute charged on the property of the Church. Neither shall there be applied to ministers of worship in the exercise of their sacerdotal ministry any professional tax or licensing tax instituted by Royal Decree, November 18, 1923, n. 2538, in place of the suppressed tax of trade and resale, or any other tax of that nature.
(i) The use of the Ecclesiastical and religious habit on the part of seculars as on the part of Ecclesiastics or religious who have been forbidden to wear it by definitive provision of the competent Ecclesiastical Authority, which should be officially communicated to the Italian Government, is forbidden: and shall be punished with same sanctions and pains with which is
forbidden and punished the unlawful use of the military uniform.
Art. 30. The ordinary and extraordinary administration of property belonging to any Ecclesiastical Institute or religious association shall be under the direction and control of the competent authority of the Church, every intervention on the part of the Italian State being excluded, and without the obligation to submit the conversion of real estate. The Italian State recognizes in Ecclesiastical Institutes and religious associations the capacity to acquire property, saving the dispositions of the civil law concerning the acquisition of moral corporations. The Italian State by the new accords, unless established otherwise, shall continue to supply the deficiencies in the income of Ecclesiastical benefices with assignments that shall correspond to a measure not inferior to that established by the laws actually in force, in consideration of which the administration of the patrimony of the said benefices as far as it concerns acts and contracts which exceed simple administration shall take place with the intervention of the Italian State, and in the case of a vacancy the assignment of the property shall be made in the presence of a representative of the Government expressed by an appropriate document.
The Episcopal income of the suburban dioceses, and the patrimonies of the chapter and parishes of Rome and the said dioceses, is not subject to the said intervention. For the purpose of a congruous supplement, the amount of the said incomes and patrimony corresponding to the benefices shall result from a declaration rendered annually under the proper responsibility of the Bishop for the suburban dioceses and of the Cardinal Vicar for Rome.
Art. 31. The erection of new Ecclesiastical entities or religion associations shall be made by the Ecclesiastical Authority according to the norm of Canon Law; their recognition as regards civil effects shall be made by the civil authority.
Art. 32. The recognitions and the authorizations foreseen in the provisions of the present Concordat and of the Treaty shall take place through a norm established by the civil law which shall be put into harmony with the dispositions of the said Concordat and Treaty.
Art. 33. The disposition of the existing Catacombs in Rome and other parts of the territory of the Kingdom are reserved to the Holy See, with the consequent honour of keeping, maintaining and conserving them. The Holy See can, with the observance of the law of the State and saving the eventual rights of third parties, proceed to future excavations and the transfer of the bodies of the saints.
Art. 34. The Italian State, wishing to restore to the institution of matrimony, which is the foundation of the family, that dignity which is conformable with the Catholic traditions of its people, recognizes the civil effects of the Sacrament of matrimony regulated by Canon Law.
The publication of matrimony as above shall be effected in the parish, and also in the communal hall. Immediately after the celebration of matrimony, the parish priest shall explain to the newly wedded pair the civil effects of matrimony, reading to them the Articles in the civil code regarding the rights and duties of married persons, and commit the act of matrimony to writing, of which within five days he shall send an exact copy to the Commune, in order that it may be
transcribed in the registers of the civil State.
Causes concerning nullity of matrimony and dispensations from matrimony ratified but not consummated are reserved to the competence of the Ecclesiastical Tribunals and their departments. The provisions and the relative sentences when they have become definitive shall be carried to the supreme tribunal of the Segnatura, which shall control them and see that the norm of the Canon Law relative to the competence of the judge, the citations, the legitimate representation and the contumacy of the parties, has been observed. The said provisions and definitive sentences with the relative decree of the supreme tribunal of the Segnatura shall be
transmitted to the Court of Appeal of the State competent for the territory, which shall, by an order of chamber of Council, render effective the civil effects and order the same to be annotated in the margin of the Act of Matrimony of the civil State. As to causes of personal separation the Holy See agrees that these shall be judged by the ordinary civil authority.
Art. 35. For secondary (scuola media) schools of instruction carried on by Ecclesiastical or religious associations the examination by the State with effective parity of conditions for candidates of the Government schools and candidates of the said schools shall remain in force.
Art. 36. Italy, considering the teaching of Christian doctrine according to the form received by Catholic tradition as the foundation and the crown of public instruction, agrees that religious instruction imparted in the public elementary schools shall have a further development in the secondary schools according to a programme to be established by an accord between the
Holy See and the State. Such teaching shall be given by means of masters and professors, priests and religious approved by the Ecclesiastical Authority, and subsidiaries by means of lay masters and professors, who for this end shall be furnished with a certificate of
fitness to be issued by the ordinary of the diocese. The revocation of the certificate on the part of the ordinary deprives the teachers of the capacity to teach. For the said religious teaching there shall only be used in the public schools the text-books approved by the Ecclesiastical
Authority.
Art. 37. The director of the State Association of physical culture for pre-military instruction, of the Avanguardisti and the Balilla, in order to render possible the religious instruction of the youth entrusted to them, shall dispose the hours in such a way as shall not impede on Sundays and days of precept the fulfilment of their religious duties. The same applies to the directors of public schools for gatherings of their pupils on the said feast days.
Art. 38. The nomination of the professors of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and the dependent institute of Mary Immaculate are subject to the nihil obstat on the part of the Holy See directed to secure that nothing shall be wanting from the moral and religious point of view.
Art. 39. The Universities, the greater and lesser Seminaries, diocesan, inter-diocesan or regional, the academies, the colleges and other Catholic Institutes for Ecclesiastical formation and culture shall continue to depend solely from the Holy See without any interference on the part of the scholastic authority of the Kingdom.
Art. 40. The doctorate in Sacred Theology bestowed by the Faculty approved by the Holy See shall be recognized by the Italian State ; likewise shall be recognized the diplomas which shall be given in the schools of palæography, archives and diplomatic documents erected near the Library and the Archives in the City of the Vatican.
Art. 41. Italy recognizes the use in the Kingdom and its colonies of the Pontifical honours of knighthood by means of a register of briefs of the nominations through the presentation of the brief by the person interested and the request for its inscription therein.
Art. 42. Italy shall admit the recognition by a Royal decree of titles of nobility conferred by the Supreme Pontiff, even after 1870, and of those that shall be conferred in the future.
It shall also be established that the said recognition in Italy shall not be subject to taxation.
Art. 43. The Italian State recognizes the organizations dependent from the Italian Catholic action in so far as the Holy See has disposed that they carry out their activity outside any political party and under the immediate dependence of the Hierarchy of the Church for the diffusion and exercise of Catholic principles. The Holy See takes the occasion of the stipulation of the present Concordat to renew to all Ecclesiastics and religious of Italy the prohibition of belonging to and fighting for any political party whatsoever.
Art. 44. If any difficulty shall arise in the future concerning the interpretation of the present Concordat, the Holy See and Italy shall proceed by a common examination to a friendly solution.
Art. 45. The present Concordat shall come into force by exchange of the ratifications at the same time as the Treaty between the two High Parties for the elimination of ' the Roman Question. '
With the entry into force of the present Concordat, the Concordat with the former Italian States shall cease to be operative. The Austrian law, the laws and decrees of the Italian State actually in force, in so far as they are opposed to the depositions of the present Concordat, shall be abrogated by the entry into force of the same. To prepare for the execution of the present Concordat, a commission shall be nominated immediately after the signing thereof, comprised of persons to be designated by the two High Parties.
Rome, eleventh February, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-nine.
PIETRO CARD. GASPARRI.BENITO MUSSOLINI.
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At the conclusion of the signing, the following official communiqué was released:
The Holy See considers that with the Agreements signed today it possesses the guarantees necessary to provide due liberty and independence to the spiritual government of the dioceses of Rome and of the Catholic Church in Italy and the whole world.
It declares the Roman question definitely and irrevocably settled, and therefore eliminated, and recognizes the Kingdom of Italy under the dynasty of the House of Savoy, with Rome as the capital of the Italian State. Italy, on its side, recognizes the State of the Vatican City under the sovereignty of the Supreme Pontiff. The Law of Guarantees and any other Law or Act contrary to the present Treaty is abrogated.
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Sources:
+ The Coins and Medals of the Vatican, by Joseph Sadow and Thomas Sarro Jr., Copyright 1977 by Sanford J. Durst, 133 E. 58th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022, Library of Congress No. 76-40814, ISBN 0-915262-06-1, pages 106-114 (only the 1st part of Treaty).
± The Treaty of the Lateran, by Benedict Williamson, with a forward by his eminence [Francis] Cardinal Bourne, Archbishop of
Westminster, Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., London, 1929, pages 42-66.
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Agreement Between the Italian Republic and the Holy See-Document Information Country: Italy Region: Europe Document Type: International Treaty or Covenant Dates:
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Agreement Between the Italian Republic and the Holy See Signed by the Italian Republic and the Holy See on 18 February 1984. Ratified by the Italian Parliament on 25 March 1985. Reproduced with permission from 24 I.L.M. 1589 (1985), ©The American Society of International Law.Taking into account the process of political and social change that has occurred in Italy over the last decades and the developments which have taken place in the Church since the Second Vatican Council; Bearing in mind, on the part of the Italian Republic, the principles proclaimed in its Constitution and, on the part of the Holy See, the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council’s declarations on religious freedom and on the relations between the Church
and the polity, as well as the new codification of canon law;
Considering further that, in accordance with Article 7, paragraph (2) of the Constitution of the Italian Republic, the relations between the State and the Catholic Church are governed by the Lateran Pacts, which, however, can be modified by common agreement of the two Parties without requiring any procedure of Constitutional revision; Have recognized the opportunity of entering into the following mutually agreed amendments to the Lateran Concordat:
Article 1 The Italian Republic and the Holy See reaffirm that the State and the Catholic Church are, each in its own order, independent and sovereign and commit themselves to the full respect of this principle in their mutual relations and to reciprocal collaboration for the promotion of man and the common good of the Country.
Article 2 1. The Italian Republic shall recognize the full freedom of the Church to develop its pastoral, educational, and charitable mission, of evangelization and sanctification. In particular, the Church shall be assured the freedom of organization, of public exercise of worship, of exercise of its magisterium and spiritual ministry as well as of exercise of jurisdiction in ecclesiastical matters.
2. It shall be equally assured the reciprocal freedom of communication and correspondence between the Holy See, the Italian Bishops Conference, the Regional Bishops Conferences, the bishops, the clergy and the faithful, as well as the freedom of printing and circulating acts and documents concerning the mission of the Church.
3. Catholics and their associations and organizations shall be granted the full freedom of assembly and of expression of their thoughts by oral, written, or any other means of publication.
4. The Italian Republic acknowledges the particular significance that Rome, the Episcopal See of the Supreme Pontiff, has to Catholicism.
Article 3 1. The boundaries of the dioceses and of the parishes shall be freely determined by the ecclesiastical authority. The Holy See commits itself not to include any part of the Italian territory into a diocese whose Episcopal See is in the territory of another State.
2. Appointments to ecclesiastical offices shall be freely made by the ecclesiastical authority. The ecclesiastical authority shall communicate to the competent civil authorities the appointments of the Archbishops and diocesan bishops, of the coadjutors, the abbots and prelates with territorial jurisdiction as well as of the parish priests and the appointments to the other ecclesiastical offices relevant for the State legal order.
3. Except for the diocese of Rome and for the suburban ones, ecclesiastics who are not Italian citizens shall not be appointed to the offices hereof.
Article 4 1. The priests, the deacons, and the members of the religious orders who have taken vows shall have the right to obtain, at their own request, an exemption from the military service or to be assigned to the substitutive Civil Service.
2. In the event of general mobilization, the ecclesiastics who have not been assigned to the care of souls shall be called to exercise their religious office among the troops or, subordinately, they shall be assigned to the medical service.
3. Students of theology, those in the last two years of their theological preparation for ordination and novices of religious institutes and societies for apostolic life may take advantage of the same postponements of military service which are granted to the students of Italian Universities.
4. Ecclesiastics shall not be required to provide to magistrates or other authorities any information regarding persons or matters known to them by reason of their ministry.
Article 5 1. Buildings open to worship shall not be requisitioned, occupied, expropriated or demolished except for grave reasons and pursuant to a previous agreement with the competent ecclesiastical authority.
2. Except in cases of urgent necessity, the police force shall not enter buildings open to worship for the purpose of carrying out its duties without first advising the ecclesiastical authority thereof.
3. The civil authority shall take into account the religious needs of the people, as presented to it by the competent ecclesiastical authority, in connection with the construction of new buildings for Catholic worship and of the pertinent parish structures.
Article 6 The Italian Republic shall recognize as public holidays every Sunday and all the other religious feasts determined by agreement between the Parties.
Article 7 1. The Italian Republic, in accordance with the principle enunciated in Article 20 of its Constitution, reaffirms that the ecclesiastical character and the religious or worship purpose of an association or institution shall not be the motive of special legislative limitations or of special tax exemptions with regard to its constitution, legal capacity, or any other form of activity.
2. The legal personality previously granted to ecclesiastical bodies shall be retained and the Italian Republic, upon request of the ecclesiastical authority or with its consent, shall continue to recognize the legal personality of the ecclesiastical bodies whose See is in Italy, who are constituted or approved according to the norms of canon law and have a religious or worship
purpose. A similar procedure shall be followed in order to recognize civil effects to any substantial change of the same bodies.
3. With respect to taxation, ecclesiastical bodies having a religious or devotional purpose, as well as activities directed to that same scope shall be treated in the same manner as those having a beneficent or educational purpose. The activities carried out by ecclesiastical bodies that are not for religious or devotional purposes shall be subject, in accordance with the structure and purpose of such bodies, to the laws of the State concerning such activities and to the tax
burden provided for the same.
4. The buildings open to worship, the publications of acts, the posting of notices in the interior or at the outside doors of the worship or ecclesiastical buildings, and the collections made in the aforesaid buildings shall continue to be subject to the regulations presently in force.
5. The administration of the property owned by ecclesiastical bodies shall be subject to the controls provided by canon law. The acquisitions made by these bodies shall also be subject, however, to the controls provided for in the Italian laws on acquisition by legal persons.
6. On the occasion of the signing of the present agreement, the Parties shall appoint a joint Commission to formulate norms, that will be subsequently submitted for their approval, for the regulation of the whole matter of ecclesiastical bodies and properties and for the revision of the financial obligations of the Italian State and of its intervention into the patrimonial management of ecclesiastical bodies. Upon a temporary basis and until the entry into force of the new regulation, Articles 17, paragraph (3), 18, 27, 29 and 30 of the previous text of the Concordat shall remain applicable.
Article 8 1. Civil effects shall be recognized for marriages contracted according to the norms of canon law, provided that the act of marriage be entered in the registers of the vital statistics, and the notices of marriage have been previously published at the communal offices. Immediately after the ceremony, the parish priest or his delegate shall explain the civil effects of the marriage to the parties, by reading the Articles of the Civil Code concerning the rights and duties of married people and he shall thereafter draw up, in original duplicate, the certificate of marriage, in which the spouses’ declarations permitted by civil law may be inserted. The Holy See acknowledges that the registration shall not take place:
(A) When the spouses do not meet the requirements of age determined by civil law for celebration;
(B) When an impediment from which, according to civil law, no derogation is permitted, exists between the spouses. However, registration is permitted when, according to civil law, an action for nullity or annulment can no longer be maintained. The request for registration shall be made, in writing and within five days from the celebration, by the parish priest of the place
where the marriage has been celebrated. If the conditions for registration are satisfied, the vital statistics officer shall record it within 24 hours from the receipt of the act and shall give notice thereof to the parish priest.
The marriage shall have civil effects from the moment of the celebration, even if the vital statistics officer has, for any reason, made the registration after the prescribed term. The registration can also be made subsequently upon request of the two spouses, or of one of them with the knowledge and without the opposition of the other, provided that both have retained single status without interruption from the moment of the celebration to the request for registration and the rights legally acquired by third parties are not prejudiced.
2. The judgments of nullity of marriage pronounced by ecclesiastical tribunals, together with the decree of execution issued by the superior controlling ecclesiastical authority, shall be declared, at the request of the parties or of one of them, effective within the Italian Republic by judgment of the competent Court of Appeal, upon verifying:
(A) that the ecclesiastical judge was the competent judge to adjudicate the action, the marriage having been celebrated in accordance with the present Article;
(B) that in the proceedings before the ecclesiastical tribunals the right to sue and to defend in Court has been assured to the parties in a way not dissimilar from what is required by the fundamental principles of the Italian legal system;
(C) that the other conditions required by the Italian legislation for the declaration of efficacy of foreign judgments are present. The Court of Appeal may, with the judgment that recognizes a canonical judgment, take temporary economical measures in favor of one of the two spouses whose marriage has been declared null, referring the parties to the competent judge for a final
decision on the matter.
3. In entering into the present regulation of matrimonial matters the Holy See herein reaffirms the unchangeable validity of the Catholic teaching on marriage and the concern of the Church for the dignity and values of the family, foundation of the society.
Article 9 1. The Italian Republic, in conformity with the principle of freedom of schools and teaching and according to the terms provided for in its Constitution, shall guarantee to the Catholic Church the right to freely establish schools of every order and grade and educational institutes. Full freedom shall be assured to private schools officially recognized by the State and it shall also be assured to their pupils school treatment equivalent to that applied to the pupils of schools run by the State or by the other territorial entities, also with regards to the State exam.
2. The Italian Republic, recognizing the value of the religious culture and considering that the principles of the Catholic Church are part of the historical heritage of the Italian people, shall continue to assure, within the framework of the scope of the schools, the teaching of Catholic religion in the public schools of every order and grade except for Universities. With respect for the freedom of conscience and educational responsibility of the parents, everyone shall be granted the right to choose whether or not to receive religious instruction. When they enroll, the students or their parents shall exercise this right at the request of the school authority and their choice shall not give rise to any form of discrimination.
Article 10 1. The Universities, seminaries, academies, colleges, and other institutions for ecclesiastics and members of religious orders or for the training in the ecclesiastical disciplines, established according to canon law, shall continue to be subordinate to the ecclesiastical authority alone.
2. The academic degrees in theology and in the other ecclesiastical disciplines, determined by the agreement of the contracting Parties and granted by the faculties approved by the Holy See, shall be recognized by the State. The diplomas of Paleography, Diplomacy, Custody of Historical Documents, and Library Sciences obtained at Vatican schools shall likewise be recognized.
3. The appointment of professors to the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and the subordinate institutes shall be subject to the approval of the candidates’ religious profile by the competent ecclesiastical authority.
Article 11 1. The Italian Republic assures that service in the army, in the police or in any other similar service, time spent in hospitals, in sanatoria or in houses of public assistance and confinment to the institutes for prevention and punishment shall not impede the exercise of religious freedom and the fulfillment of the practices of Catholic worship.
2. The spiritual assistance to the same shall be assured by ecclesiastics appointed by the competent Italian authorities upon designation by the ecclesiastical authority and in accordance with the legal status, the personnel and the formalities determined by common agreement of these authorities.
Article 12 1. The Holy See and the Italian Republic, each in its proper order, shall collaborate for the protection of the historical and artistic heritage. In order to harmonize the application of Italian law with the religious needs, the competent authorities of the two Parties shall
agree upon appropriate provisions for the protection, appraisal, and enjoyment of cultural property of religious interest that belongs to ecclesiastical bodies or institutions. The preservation and consultation of archives of historical interest and of the libraries of the same bodies and institutions shall be favoured and facilitated on the basis of understandings between the competent authorities of the two Parties.
2. The Holy See shall retain the power to dispose of the Christian catacombs that exist underground at Rome and other parts of the Italian territory, bearing the consequent responsibility for their custody, maintenance and preservation, but it shall waive the power to dispose of the other catacombs. Subject to the laws of the State and to any rights of third parties, the Holy See shall be at liberty to proceed with any necessary excavation and removal of sacred relics.
Article 13 1. The preceding provisions shall be amendments to the Lateran Concordat accepted by the two Parties and shall enter into force on the exchange of the instruments of ratification. Except for what is provided in Article 7, paragraph (6), the provisions of the Concordat not reproduced in the present text are herein repealed.
2. Additional matters for which a need of collaboration between the Catholic Church and the State might arise, shall be governed by further agreements between the two Parties or by understandings between the competent authorities of the State and of the Italian Bishops Conference.
Article 14 If, in the future, any difficulties should arise with regard to the interpretation or application of the preceding provisions, the Holy See and the Italian Republic shall entrust the search for an amicable settlement to a joint Commission appointed by them.
Rome, February 18, 1984 Signed on February 18, 1984
On the occasion of the signing of the Agreement that modifies the Lateran Concordat, the Holy See and the Italian Republic, desiring to assure, by means of appropriate specifications, the best application of the Lateran Pacts and the agreed upon amendments, and willing to avoid any difficulties of interpretation thereof, herein jointly declare:
1. In relation to Article 1
The principle of the Catholic religion as the sole religion of the Italian State, originally referred to by the Lateran Pacts, shall be considered to be no longer in force.
2. In relation to Article 4
(a) With reference to Paragraph (2), the ordinaries, parish priests, parish vicars, rectors of churches open to worship and priests permanently assigned to the services of spiritual assistance referred to in Article 11 shall be considered to be in cure of souls.
(b) The Italian Republic assures that the judicial authority shall inform the ecclesiastical authority with territorial competence of any criminal proceedings against ecclesiastics.
(c) The Holy See takes advantage of the amendments to the Lateran Concordat to declare its agreement, without prejudice to the canon legal system, with the interpretation given by the Italian State to Article 23, paragraph (2) of the Lateran Treaty, according to which the civil effects of the judgments and final orders pronounced by ecclesiastical authorities and
provided by this Article shall be understood in accordance with the rights of Italian citizens which are constitutionally recognized.
3. In relation to Article 7
(a) The Italian Republic assures that no obligation to proceed with the conversion of real property shall exist upon ecclesiastical bodies, unless contrary agreements are concluded from time to time between the competent governmental and ecclesiastical authorities when special reasons are present.
(b) The joint Commission referred to in Paragraph (6) shall terminate its work within and no later than six months from the signing of the present agreement.
4. In relation to Article 8
(a) In view of the application of Paragraph (1) (B), the following shall be understood to be impediments from which, according to civil law, no derogation is permitted:
(1) the fact that one of the contracting parties is interdicted for mental infirmity;
(2) the existence, between the spouses, of a previous marriage which is valid for civil purposes;
(3) the impediments which derive from crime of affinity in a direct line.
(b) With reference to Paragraph (2), in view of the application of Articles 796 and 797 of the Italian Code of Civil Procedure, the specificity of the canon legal system, that governs the bond of matrimony which had its origin therein, shall be taken into account. In particular:
(1) it shall be taken into consideration that the references made by Italian law to the law of the place where the judicial proceedings have taken place shall be understood as relating to canon law;
(2) final judgment shall be considered to be a judgment that is enforceable according to canon law;
(3) it is understood that, in any case, the merits shall not be re-examined.
(c) The provisions of Paragraph (2) shall also be applied to marriages celebrated, before the entry into force of the present agreement, in conformity with the norms of Article 34 of the Lateran Concordat and of the law No. 847 of May 27, 1929 and for which a proceeding before the civil judicial authority, as provided by the same norms, has not been initiated.
5. In relation to Article 9
(a) The teaching of Catholic religion in the schools indicated at Paragraph (2) shall be given — in conformity with the doctrine of the Church and with respect for the freedom of conscience of the pupils — by the teachers who are recognized by the ecclesiastical authority as being qualified thereto and who are appointed, in agreement therewith, by the school authority. In infant and elementary schools, this teaching may be given by the class teacher, if recognized by the ecclesiastical authority as being qualified thereto and if willing to do it.
(b) By means of a subsequent understanding between the competent school authorities and the Italian Bishops Conference, it shall be determined:
(1) the teaching prospectus of Catholic religion in public schools of every order and grade;
(2) the organization of this teaching, also with respect to its position in the school time table;
(3) the criteria for selecting the textbooks;
(4) the requirements of professional qualification for the teachers.
(c) The provisions of this Article shall not prejudice the regulations presently in force in the regions on the borders of the Country, in which the matter is governed by special norms.
6. In relation to Article 10
The Italian Republic, in interpreting Paragraph (3) -- that does not change Article 38 of the Concordat signed on February 11, 1929 -- shall follow the judgment of the Constitutional Court, No. 195/1972, concerning the same Article.
7. In relation to Article 13, Paragraph (1)
The Parties shall initiate appropriate consultations with a view of the implement, each within its proper order, the provisions of the present agreement. The present Additional Protocol is an integral part fo the Agreement that modifies the Lateran Concordat and that was
contextually signed by the Holy See and the Italian Republic. Rome, February 18, 1984
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The Lateran Pacts of 1929 contained three sections—the Treaty of Conciliation (27 articles) which established Vatican City as an independent state, restoring the civil sovereignty of the Pope as a monarch, the Financial Convention annexed to the treaty (3 articles) which compensated the Holy See for loss of the papal states, and the Concordat (45 articles), which dealt with the Roman Catholic Church's ecclesiastical relations with the Italian State.
An Agreement Between the Italian Republic and the Holy See amended the Lateran Pacts in 1985.
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1. CONCILIATION TREATY +
IN the name of the Most Holy Trinity.
Whereas the Holy See and Italy have recognized the desirability of eliminating every reason for dissension existing between them and arriving at a final settlement of their reciprocal relations which shall be consistent with justice and with the dignity of both High Contracting Parties, and which by permanently assuring to the Holy See a position de facto and de jure which shall
guarantee absolute independence for the fulfillment of its exalted mission in the world, permits the Holy See to consider as finally and irrevocably settled the Roman Question which arose in 1870 by the annexation of Rome to the Kingdom of Italy, under the Dynasty of the House of Savoy; And whereas it was obligatory, for the purpose of assuring the absolute and visible independence of the Holy See, likewise to guarantee its indisputable sovereignty in international matters, it has been found necessary to create under special conditions the Vatican City, recognizing the full ownership, exclusive and absolute dominion and sovereign jurisdiction of the
Holy See over that City;
His Holiness the Supreme Pontiff Pius XI and His Majesty Victor Emanuel III, King of Italy, have agreed to conclude a Treaty, appointing for that purpose two Plenipotentiaries, being on behalf of His Holiness, His Secretary of State, viz. His Most Reverend Eminence the Lord Cardinal Pietro Gasparri, and on behalf of his Majesty, His Excellency the Cav. Benito
Mussolini, Prime Minister and Head of the Government; who, having exchanged their respective full powers, which were found to be in due and proper form, have hereby agreed to the following articles:
Article 1
Italy recognizes and reaffirms the principle established in the first Article of the Italian Constitution dated March 4, 1848, according to which the Catholic Apostolic Roman religion is the only State religion.
Article 2
Italy recognizes the sovereignty of the Holy See in international matters as an inherent attribute in conformity with its traditions and the requirements of its mission to the world.
Article 3
Italy recognizes the full ownership, exclusive dominion, and sovereign authority and jurisdiction of the Holy See over the Vatican as at present constituted, together with all its appurtenances and endowments, thus creating the Vatican City, for the special purposes and under the conditions hereinafter referred to.
The boundaries of the said City are set forth in the map called Annex I of the present Treaty, of which it is forms an integral part. It is furthermore agreed that, although forming part of the Vatican City, St. Peter's Square shall continue to be normally open to the public and shall be subject to supervision by the Italian police authorities, which powers shall cease to operate at
the foot of the steps leading to the Basilica, although the latter shall continue to be used for public worship. The said authorities shall, therefore, abstain from mounting the steps and entering the said Basilica, unless and except they are requested to do so by the proper authorities.
Should the Holy See consider it necessary, for the purpose of special ceremonies, temporarily to prohibit the public from free access to St. Peter's Square, the Italian authorities shall (unless specially requested to do otherwise) withdraw to beyond the outer lines of Bernini's Colonnade and the extension thereof.
Article 4
The sovereignty and exclusive jurisdiction over the Vatican City, which Italy recognizes as appertaining to the Holy See, forbid any intervention therein on the part of the Italian Government, or that any authority other than that of the Holy See shall be there acknowledged.
Article 5
For the purpose of the execution of the provisions of the preceding Article before the present Treaty comes into force, the Italian Government shall see to it that the territory forming the Vatican City shall remain free from any charge and from possible occupants. The Holy See shall arrange to enclose the access thereto, enclosing such parts thereof as remain open, except St. Peter's Square. It is furthermore agreed that, in respect of the buildings there existing and belonging to religious institutions or bodies, the Holy See shall settle relations with the latter direct, the Italian Government having no part in such arrangements.
Article 6
Italy shall provide, by means of suitable agreements entered into with the interested parties, that an adequate water supply be fully assured to the Vatican City. Italy shall furthermore provide for connection with the State railways by constructing a railway station within the Vatican City on the spot shown on the annexed map, and by permitting the circulation of railway carriages belonging to the Vatican on the Italian railways. It shall further provide for direct connection with other States by means of telegraph, telephone, wireless, broadcasting, and postal services in the Vatican City. It shall equally also provide for the coordination of all other public services.
All expenses connected with the arrangements above mentioned shall be defrayed by the Italian State, within the period of one year from the entry into force of the present Treaty. The Holy See shall, at its own expense, arrange the existing means of access to the Vatican, and those others which it may consider it necessary to make in the future. Agreements shall be subsequently concluded between the Holy See and Italy concerning the circulation, on and over Italian territory, of land vehicles and aircraft belonging to the Vatican City.
Article 7
The Italian Government undertakes to prohibit the construction within the territory surrounding the Vatican City, of any new buildings which might overlook the latter, and shall for a like purpose provide for the partial demolition of similar buildings already standing near the Porta Cavalleggeri and along the Via Aurelia and the Viale Vaticano. In accordance with the provisions of International Law, it shall be forbidden for aircraft of any kind whatsoever to fly over Vatican territory.
On the Piazza Rusticucci, and in the areas adjoining the Colonnade, over which the extra-territoriality referred to in Article 15 hereof does not extend, all structural alterations or street construction shall only be effected by mutual assent.
Article 8
Considering the person of the Supreme Pontiff to be sacred and inviolable, Italy declares any attempt against His person or any incitement to commit such attempt to be punishable by the same penalties as all similar attempts and incitements to commit the same against the person of the King. All offences or public insults committed within Italian territory against the person of the Supreme Pontiff, whether by means of speeches, acts, or writings, shall be punished in the same manner as offences and insults against the person of the King.
Article 9
In accordance with the provisions of International Law, all persons having a permanent residence within the Vatican City shall be subject to the sovereignty of the Holy See. Such residence shall not be forfeited by reason of the mere fact of temporary residence elsewhere, unaccompanied by the loss of habitation in the said City or other circumstances proving that
such residence has been abandoned. On ceasing to be subject to the sovereignty of the Holy See, the persons referred to in the preceding paragraph, who, according to the provisions of Italian law (independently of the de facto circumstances considered above) shall not be regarded
as possessing any other citizenship, shall be regarded in Italy as Italian nationals.
Notwithstanding that all such persons are subject to the sovereignty of the Holy See, the provisions of Italian law shall be applicable to them within the territory of the Kingdom of Italy, even in such matters wherein the personal law must be observed (when they are not covered by the regulations emanating from the Holy See) and, in the case of persons of foreign nationality, the legal provisions of the State to which they belong.
Article 10
Such dignitaries of the Church and persons belonging to the Papal Court as shall be indicated in a Schedule to be approved by the High Contracting Parties, shall always and in every case, even when not citizens of the Vatican, be exempt from military service as far as Italy is concerned, jury service, and any other service of a personal nature. This provision shall also apply to regular officials whose services are considered indispensable by the Holy See, if permanently employed by the latter and earning a fixed salary, or employed in the Departments or Offices mentioned in Articles 13, 14, 15, and 16 hereof and residing without the Vatican City. The names of such officials shall be set forth in another Schedule to be drawn up and approved as above mentioned, and which shall be brought up to date each year by the Holy See.
The ecclesiastics whose duty it shall be to participate, without the Vatican City, in the execution of enactments emanating from the Holy See, shall not, on that account, be subject to any hindrance, investigation, or molestation on the part of the Italian authorities. All foreigners in official ecclesiastical employment in Rome shall enjoy the personal guarantees appertaining to Italian citizens, in accordance with the laws of the Kingdom of Italy.
Article 11
All central bodies of the Catholic Church shall be exempt from any interference on the part of the Italian State (save and except as provided by Italian law in regard to the acquisition of property made by corpi morali, [recognized public bodies] and with regard to the conversion of real estate.)
Article 12
Italy recognizes the right of the Holy See to passive and active Legation, according to the general rules of International Law. Officials accredited by foreign Governments to the Holy See shall continue to enjoy, within the Kingdom of Italy, all the prerogatives of immunity enjoyed by diplomatic agents under International Law, and their headquarters may continue to be
within Italian territory whilst enjoying the immunity due to them under International Law, even in the event of their State not having diplomatic relations with Italy.
It is understood that Italy undertakes in all cases to allow the freedom of correspondence for all States, including belligerents, to and from the Holy See, as well as free access to the Apostolic See by Bishops from all over the world. The High Contracting Parties undertake to establish normal diplomatic relations between each other, by accrediting an Italian Ambassador to the Holy See and a Papal Nuncio to Italy, who shall be the doyen of the Diplomatic Corps, in
accordance with the ordinary practice recognized by the Congress of Vienna by the Act of June 9, 1815, in consequence of the sovereignty hereby recognized and without prejudice to the provisions of Article 19 hereof, the diplomats accredited by the Holy See and the diplomatic couriers dispatched in the name of the Supreme Pontiff, shall enjoy within Italian territory, even in time of war, the same treatment as that enjoyed by diplomatic personages and couriers of other foreign Governments, according to the provisions of International Law.
Article 13
Italy recognizes the full ownership of the Holy See over the patriarchal Basilicas of St. John Lateran, Sta. Maria Maggiore, and St. Paul, with their annexed buildings. The State transfers to the Holy See the free management and administration of the said Basilica of St. Paul and its
dependent Monastery, also paying over to the Holy See all monies representing the sums set aside annually for that church in the budget of the Ministry of Education. It is also understood that the Holy See shall remain the absolute owner of the edifice of S. Callisto, adjoining Sta. Maria in Trastevere.
Article 14
Italy recognizes the full ownership by the Holy See of the Papal Palace of Castel Gandolfo, together with all endowments, appurtenances, and dependencies thereof, which are now already in the possession of the Holy See, and Italy also undertakes to hand over, within six months after the coming into force of the present Treaty, the Villa Barberini in Castel Gandolfo, together with all endowments, appurtenances, and dependencies thereof. In order to round off the property situated on the northern side of the Janiculum Hill, belonging to the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide and to other ecclesiastical institutions, which property faces the Vatican Palaces, the State undertakes to transfer to the Holy See or other bodies appointed by it for such purpose, all real estate belonging to the State or to third parties existing in that area. The properties belonging to the said Congregation and to other institutions and those to be transferred being marked on the annexed map.
Finally, Italy shall transfer to the Holy See, as its full and absolute property, the Convent buildings in Rome attached to the Basilica of the Twelve Holy Apostles and to the churches of San Andrea della Valle and S. Carlo ai Catinari, with all annexes and dependencies thereof, and shall hand them over within one year after the entry into force of the present Treaty, free of all
occupants.
Article 15
The property indicated in Article 13 hereof and in paragraphs (1) and (2) of Article 14, as well as the Palaces of the Dataria, of the Cancelleria, of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide in the Piazza di Spagna of the S. Offizio with its annexes, and those of the Convertendi (now the Congregation of the Eastern Church) in Piazza Scossacavelli, the Vicariato, and all other edifices in which the Holy See shall subsequently desire to establish other offices and departments although such edifices form part of the territory belonging to the Italian State, shall enjoy the immunity granted by International Law to the headquarters of the diplomatic agents of foreign States. Similar immunity shall also apply with regard to any other churches (even if situated outside Rome) during such time as, without such churches being open to the public, the Supreme Pontiff shall take part in religious ceremonies celebrated therein.
Article 16
The property mentioned in the three preceding Articles, as also that used as headquarters of the following Papal institutions - the Gregorian University, the Biblical, Oriental, and Archaeological Institutes, the Russian Seminary, the Lombard College, the two Palaces of St. Apollinaris, and the Home of the Retreat of the Clergy dedicated to St. John and St. Paul - shall never be subject to charges or to expropriation for reasons of public utility, save by previous agreement with the Holy See, and shall be exempt from any contribution or tax, whether ordinary or extraordinary and payable to the State or to any other body. It shall be permissible for the Holy See to deal with all buildings above mentioned or referred to in the three preceding
Articles as it may deem fit, without obtaining the authorization or consent of the Italian governmental, provincial, or communal authority, which authorities may in this regard rely entirely on the high artistic traditions of the Catholic Church.
Article 17
As from January 1, 1929, salaries of whatsoever nature payable by the Holy See, or by other central bodies of the Catholic Church and by bodies administered directly by the Holy See whether within or without Rome to dignitaries employed and salaried (whether permanently or not, shall be exempt from any contribution or tax whether payable to the State or to any
other body.
Article 18
The artistic and scientific treasures existing within the Vatican City and the Lateran Palace shall remain open to scholars and visitors, although the Holy See shall be free to regulate the admission of the public thereto.
Article 19
Diplomats and envoys of the Holy See, as well as diplomats and envoys of foreign Governments accredited to the Holy See, and the dignitaries of the Church arriving from abroad and traveling to the Vatican City, provided with passports of the States whence they come duly furnished with the visa of the Papal representative abroad, shall be allowed free access to the Vatican City over Italian territory without formalities.
Article 20
Goods arriving from abroad for destinations within the Vatican City, or without it boundaries for institutions or offices of the Holy See, shall invariably be allowed transit over Italian territory (from any part of the Italian boundary as also from any seaport of the Kingdom) free of payment of any customs or octroi dues.
Article 21
All Cardinals shall enjoy, in Italy, the honours due to Princes of the Blood. Those Cardinals who may reside in Rome without the Vatican City shall, for all purposes, be considered citizens thereof. In the event of the office of the Holy See falling vacant, Italy shall make special arrangements for the free transit and access of Cardinals over Italian territory to the Vatican, and shall provide that their personal liberty is not impeded or limited. Italy shall also take all measures, within her territory surrounding the Vatican City, necessary to prevent the commission of any act which may in any way disturb the meetings of the Conclave. The same provisions shall apply to Conclave held beyond the boundaries of the Vatican City and to Councils presided over by the Supreme Pontiff or his Legates, and with regard to all Bishops summoned to attend them.
Article 22
At the request of the Holy See, or by its delegate who may be appointed in single cases or permanently, Italy shall provide within her for the punishment of offences committed within the Vatican City, save and except when the author of the offence shall have taken refuge in Italian territory, in which event he shall immediately be proceeded against according to the
provisions of the Italian laws. The Holy See shall hand over to the Italian State all persons who may have taken refuge within the Vatican City, when accused of acts committed within Italian territory which are considered to be criminal by the law of both States.
The same provisions shall apply in regard to persons accused of offences who may have taken refuge within the buildings enjoying immunity in accordance with the provisions of Article 15 hereof, save and except if the persons having authority within such buildings prefer to request members of the Italian police force to enter and arrest such persons.
Article 23
The regulations provided by International Law shall apply for the execution, within the Kingdom of Italy, of sentences pronounced by the Courts of the Vatican City. All sentences and measures emanating from ecclesiastical authorities and officially communicated to the civil authorities, in regard to ecclesiastical or religious persons and concerning spiritual or disciplinary matters, shall without other formality have legal effect in Italy even for all civil purposes.
Article 24
In regard to the sovereignty appertaining to it also in international matters, the Holy See declares that it desires to take, and shall take, no part in any temporal rivalries between other States, nor in any international congresses called to settle such matters, save and except in the event of such parties making a mutual appeal to the pacific mission of the Holy See, the latter
reserving in any event the right of exercising its moral and spiritual power. The Vatican City shall, therefore, be invariably and in every event considered as neutral and inviolable territory.
Article 25
By a special Convention written below and united to the present Treaty, which constitutes the IV codicil to the same and forms an integral part thereof, provision shall be made for the liquidation of the credit of the Holy See towards Italy. ±
Article 26
The Holy See considers that the agreements signed to-day offer an adequate guarantee for assuring to it, together with the requisite liberty and independence, the pastoral administration of the Roman Diocese and the Catholic Church throughout Italy and the entire world, and it declares the Roman Question to be definitely and irrevocably settled and therefore eliminated, and recognizes the Kingdom of Italy under the Dynasty of the House of Savoy, with Rome as the capital of the Italian State. Italy, on her part, recognizes the State of the Vatican City under the sovereignty of the Supreme Pontiff.
The law dated May 13, 1871 (No. 214) and any other dispositions contrary to the present Treaty, are hereby abrogated.
Article 27
Within four months after the signature thereof, the present Treaty shall be submitted for ratification by the Supreme Pontiff and the King of Italy, and shall enter into force as soon as ratifications are exchanged.
Dated in Rome this 11th day of February, 1929.
(Signed) PIETRO CARDINAL GASPARRIBENITO MUSSOLINI
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2. THE FINANCIAL CONVENTION ANNEXED TO THE TREATY ±
The Holy See and Italy having in consequence of the stipulations of the Treaty which has definitely composed ' the Roman Question ' held it necessary to regulate with a distinct convention, forming an integral part of the same, their financial relations; The supreme Pontiff considering on the one hand the immense damage sustained by the Apostolic See through the loss of the patrimony of S. Peter constituted by the ancient Pontifical States, and of the Ecclesiastical property, and on the other side, the ever-increasing needs of the Church in the City of Rome alone, and taking into consideration the present financial condition of the State and the economic condition of the Italian people, especially after the war, has deemed it well to restrict the request for indemnity to the barest necessity; asking for a sum partly in cash and partly in bonds which is much inferior in value to the which the State to-day should disperse towards the Holy See if only in execution of the obligation assumed by the law of May 13, 1871.
The Italian State appreciating the paternal sentiments of the Supreme Pontiff has felt bound to adhere to the request for the payment of the said sum.
Art. 1. Italy, on the exchange of ratifications of the Treaty, shall pay to the Holy See the sum of Italian lire 750,000,000 (seven hundred and fifty millions) and a the same time consign Italian 5 per cent bonds (with coupons, June 30) of the nominal value of Italian lire 1,000,000.
Art. 2. The Holy See declares that it accepts the above as a definite systemization of the financial relations with Italy in consequence of the events of 1870.
Art. 3. All the acts necessary for the execution of the Treaty with regard to the present Convention and of the Concordat shall be exempt from every form of taxation.
Rome, eleventh February, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-nine.
PIETRO CARD. GASPARRI.BENITO MUSSOLINI.
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3. THE CONCORDAT ±
IN the name of the Most Holy Trinity.
Seeing that from the beginning of the negotiations between the Holy See and Italy for the solution of ' the Roman Question ' the Holy See itself has proposed that the Treaty relating to the said question should be accompanied, as its necessary complement, by a Concordat to regulate the conditions of religion and the Church in Italy. Seeing that to-day a Treaty has been concluded and signed for the solution of ' the Roman Question.' His Holiness the Supreme Pontiff Pius XI and His Majesty Vittorio Emanuele III, King of Italy, have resolved to make a
Concordat and to that end have nominated the same Plenipotentaries delegated for the stipulation of the Treaty, that is: on the part of His Holiness, His Eminence the Most Reverend Lord Cardinal Pietro Gasparri, his Secretary of State; and on the part of His Majesty, His Excellency Cav. Benito Mussolini, Prime Minister and head of the Government, who having exchanged their full powers and found them to be in good and due form, have agreed upon the following articles:
Art. 1. Italy, in the sense of Art. I of the Treaty, assures the Catholic Church of the free exercise of her spiritual power, the free and public exercise of worship, and of jurisdiction in Ecclesiastical matters in conformity with the norm of the present Concordat, and when it occurs, accords to Ecclesiastics for the ads of their spiritual ministry defence on the part of its authority. In consideration of the sacred character of the Eternal City, the Episcopal See of the Sovereign Pontiff, centre of the Catholic world and place of pilgrimage, the Italian Government will take care to impede in Rome whatsoever may be in opposition with its said character.
Art. 2. The Holy See shall communicate and correspond freely with the Bishops and clergy of the whole Catholic world without any interference on the part of the Italian Government.
Equally in everything that concerns their pastoral ministry the Bishops shall communicate and correspond freely with their clergy and all the faithful. Like the Holy See the Bishops can freely publish and affix within and to the external doors of buildings destined for public worship or for the offices of their ministry, instructions, ordinances, pastoral letters, diocesan bulletins and other ads concerning the spiritual government of the faithful which they see fit to issue in the sphere of their competence. Such publications and affixions and in general all the acts and documents relative to the spiritual government of the faithful shall not be subject to any taxation. Such publications as regards the Holy See may be made in any language, those of the Bishops in Italian or Latin, but besides the Italian text the Ecclesiastical Authority can adjoin translations into other languages. The Ecclesiastical Authorities can, without any interference on the part of the Civil Authorities, make collections within and at the doors of the churches and buildings belonging to them.
Art. 3. Theological students in the last two years of their theological course devoted to the priesthood, and novices of religious institutions can, at their request, put off from year to year until the twenty-sixth year of their age the fulfilment of the obligation of military service.
Clerics ordained ' in sacris ' and religious who have made their vows are exempt from military service, saving the case of a general mobilization. In such case the priests pass into the armed forces of the State, but conserve their ecclesiastical habits in order to exercise amongst the troops their sacred ministry under the ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the military ordinary in the
sense of Art. 14. The other clerics and religious of preference shall be destined to military service. Nevertheless, even in the case of a general mobilization, those priests are dispensed from the call to present themselves who have cure of souls. As such are considered ordinaries, parish priests, vice-parish priests and coadjutors, vicars and priests permanently appointed to rectories and churches open to the public.
Art. 4. Ecclesiastics and religious are exempt from serving on juries.
Art. 5. No Ecclesiastic may be employed or remain in the employment of an office of the Italian State or any public entity depending from the same without the nihil obstat of the Diocesan ordinary. The revocation of the nihil obstat deprives the Ecclesiastic of the capacity of continuing to exercise the employment or office which he has assumed. In any case, apostate priests, or those subject to censure, cannot be appointed or continued as teachers, or hold office or be employed as clerks where they are in immediate contact with the public.
Art. 6. The stipends and the other assignments which Ecclesiastics enjoy by reason of their office are open to mortgages in the same measure as the stipends and assignments of clerks in the offices of the State.1
1 Stipendiaries of the State are allowed to mortgage one-fifth of their salaries.
Art. 7. Ecclesiastics cannot be required by magistrates or other authorities to give information concerning persons or matters which have come to their knowledge by reason of their sacred ministry.
Art. 8. In case of an Ecclesiastic or religious being brought before a magistrate for some crime, the Procurator of the King must immediately inform the ordinary of the diocese in the territory of which he exercises jurisdiction, and ought care- fully to transmit to the office of the same the instructional decrees, and where necessary the definitive sentence of the judgment both
in the first grade and also on appeal. In case of the arrest of an Ecclesiastic or religious he shall be treated with the regard due to his hierarchical grade. In the case of the condemnation of an Ecclesiastic or religious the punishment shall be performed in a place separate from
that for lay people, unless the competent ordinary shall have already reduced the condemned person to the lay state.
Art. 9. Regularly buildings open for public worship shall be exempt from requisitions and occupation. If in consequence of a grave public necessity it is necessary to occupy a building open for worship, the authority which proceeds to the occupation should have come to a previous accord with the ordinary, unless the reasons are of such absolute urgency as to prevent it. In such a case the authority should immediately proceed to inform the same (i.e. the ordinary). Saving cases of urgent necessity, the public forces shall not in the exercise of their functions enter any building open for worship, without giving previous notice to the Ecclesiastical Authority.
Art. 10. For no cause whatsoever is it possible to proceed to the demolition of a building open for worship without previous accord with the competent Ecclesiastical Authority.
Art. 11. The State recognizes the Feast-days established by the Church, which are the following:
All Sundays. The first day of the year. The Epiphany (January 6). The Feast of S. Joseph (March 19). The Ascension. The Feast of Corpus Domini. The Feast of SS. Peter and Paul (June 29). The Assumption of the B.V. Mary (August 15). All Saints' Day (November 1). The Feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8). Christmas Day (December 25).
Art. 12. On Sundays and feasts of precept in churches which have a chapter, the celebrant shall sing at the Conventual Mass according to the norm of the Sacred Liturgy a prayer for the prosperity of the King of Italy and for the Italian State.
Art. 13. The Italian Government shall give to the Holy See a table of the Ecclesiastics enrolled in the work of spiritual assistance to the military forces of the State as soon as they are approved in the mode of law. The designation of the Ecclesiastics to whom is committed the high direction of the service of spiritual assistance (the military ordinary, the Vicar-General and the inspectors) shall be made confidentially by the Holy See to the Italian Government. Whenever the Italian Government has reason to oppose such designation, it shall communicate the fact to the Holy See, which shall proceed to another designation. The military ordinary shall have Archiepiscopal rank. The nomination of the military chaplains shall be made by the competent authority of the Italian state upon the designation of the military ordinary.
Art. 14. The Italian troops by land, sea and air shall enjoy in regard to their religious duties the privileges and exemptions sanctioned by Canon Law. The military chaplains in regard to the said troops have parochial authority. They shall exercise their sacred ministry under the jurisdiction of the military ordinary assisted by his proper curia. The military ordinary has jurisdiction also over the religious, both masculine and feminine, engaged as workers in the
military hospitals.
Art. 15. The military Archiepiscopal ordinary is Provost of the Chapter of the Church of the Pantheon in Rome, constituted by his clergy, to whom is entrusted the religious service of the said Basilica. Such clergy are authorized to provide for all the religious functions, even outside Rome, which in conformity with the Canon Law are required by the State or by the Royal
House. The Holy See consents to confer on all the canons composing the Chapter of the Pantheon the dignity of Protonotaries ad instar durante munere. Their nomination shall be made by the Cardinal Vicar of Rome after presentation by the King of Italy, a confidential indication being given previous to presentation. The Holy See reserves to itself the right to transfer the Diaconia to another church.
Art. 16. The High Contracting Parties shall proceed to an accord by means of a mixed commission for the revision of the boundaries of the dioceses for the purpose of rendering them more in agreement with those of the provinces of the State. Moreover the Holy See shall erect the diocese of Zara, and no part of the territory subject to the Sovereignty of the Kingdom
of Italy shall be subject to a bishop whose seat is found in territory subject to the Sovereignty of another State, and no Diocese of the Kingdom shall include territory subject to the Sovereignty of another State. The same principle shall be observed for all the existing parishes as for those to be constituted in the territory near the confines of the State. The modifications which after the enquiry shall be deemed necessary to arrange the boundaries of the dioceses, shall be
disposed by the Holy See in previous accord with the Italian Government, and in observance of the direction expressed above, saving small rectifications of territory required for the good of souls.
Art. 17. The reduction of dioceses that may result from the application of the preceding Article, shall be brought into force as the said dioceses become vacant. The said reduction shall not import the suppression of the titles of the dioceses, nor their Chapters, which shall be
conserved when regrouping the dioceses in such a mode that the chief place therein shall correspond with that of the province. The said reductions shall leave the economic resources of the dioceses and of the Ecclesiastical entities existing in the same unchanged, including the assignments from the Italian State.
Art. 18. By disposition of the Ecclesiastical Authority the parishes shall be regrouped provisionally or definitively, entrusting them to one parish priest assisted by one or more curates uniting in one presbytery several priests. The State shall maintain unaltered the economic treatment of the said parishes.
Art. 19. The choice of Archbishops and Bishops belongs to the Holy See. First before proceeding to the nomination of an Archbishop, a Diocesan Bishop or a coadjutor with right of succession, the Holy See shall communicate the name of the person chosen to the italian Government so as to be assured by the same that it has no reason of a political character to offer against the nomination. The relative practice shall be performed with the greatest possible care and with every reserve so that the name of the person chosen shall remain secret.
Art. 20. Bishops before taking possession of their dioceses shall take an oath of fidelity to the head of the State according to the following formula: Before God and his Holy Gospels I swear and promise on becoming a Bishop fidelity to the Italian State. I swear and promise to respect and make respected by my clergy the King and the Government established according to the
constitutional laws of the State. I swear and promise moreover that I shall not participate in any agreement or any counsel that can damage the Italian State and the public order and I shall not allow to my clergy such participation. I shall concern myself with the well-being and interests of the Italian State and endeavour to avert any danger that can possibly menace it.
Art. 21. The provision of Ecclesiastical benefices belongs to the Ecclesiastical Authority.
The nomination of those invested with parochial benefices shall be communicated under reserve by the competent Ecclesiastical Authority to the Italian Government, and cannot have effect until thirty days from the date of the communication. Within this period the Italian Government shall where grave reasons are opposed to the nomination manifest them under reserve to the Ecclesiastical Authority, and if the dissent continues shall bring the case before the Holy See.
When Crave reasons arise which render the continuance of an Ecclesiastic in a determined parochial benefice injurious, the Italian Government shall communicate such reasons to the ordinary who in accord with the Government shall take the appropriate measures within three months thereof. In case of divergences between the ordinary and the Government, the Holy See shall entrust the solution of the question to two Ecclesiastics chosen by it, who in accord with two delegates of the Italian Government shall take a definitive decision.
Art. 22. Ecclesiastics who are not Italian citizens cannot be invested with the existing benefices in Italy. Those in charge of dioceses or parishes must speak the Italian language. Where necessary they shall have helpers assigned to them who, besides Italian, understand and speak the language locally in use, for the purpose of giving religious assistance in that language to the faithful according to the rules of the Church.
Art. 23. The dispositions of Articles 16, 17, 19, 20, 21 and 22 do not apply to Rome and the suburban dioceses. But the Holy See shall proceed to a new arrangement of the said dioceses, the assignments at present being made by the Italian State both of their revenues and of the other Ecclesiastical Institutions shall remain unchanged.
Art. 24. The exequatur and the Royal placet are abolished, and any Cæsarean or Royal nomination in the matter of the appointment to any Ecclesiastical benefices or offices throughout Italy, saving the exceptions made by Art. 29, letter g.
Art. 25. The Italian State renounces the sovereign prerogative of the Royal patronage of benefices both major and minor. Likewise the regalia1 over major or minor benefices and the terzo pensionabile2 in the provinces of the Kingdom of the two Sicilies is abolished.
1 Regalia. The right on the part of the Crown to appropriate to itself the income of Ecclesiastical benefices during the period they remain vacant.
2 Terso pensionabile. The right of the State to apply a third part of the income of a benefice in favour of persons designated by itself. Such rights were in force in the provinces of the former Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The relative burdens cease to be chargeable to the State and to the dependent administrations.
Art. 26. The nomination to the possession of the major or manor benefices and of the temporary representative of the vacant See or benefice has the effect of the said Ecclesiastical provision, in which the Government officially participates. The administration and enjoyment of the revenues during the vacancy shall be arranged according to the norm of Canon Law. In the case of bad management the Italian State in accord with the Ecclesiastical Authority shall proceed to the
sequestration of the temporalities of the benefice, devoting the net revenues in favour of the possessor, or in his absence to the advantage of the benefice.
Art. 27. The Basilicas of the Holy House at Loreto, of S. Francis at Assisi and of S. Antony at Padua, with the buildings and works annexed, except those of a purely lay character, shall be ceded to the Holy See and their administration shall belong to the same. They shall be free from every interference by the State and from the conversion of other entities of whatsoever
nature under the management of the Holy See, even the Missionary Colleges. In any case the Italian law regarding the acquisitions of moral corporations remains in force. With regard to the property now belonging to the said sanctuaries, a mixed commission shall proceed to deal with their distribution, having regard to the rights of third parties and to the necessary endowment of the said works of a lay character. For the other sanctuaries in which a lay administration exists, these shall be replaced by the management of the Ecclesiastical Authority, saving the case of the distribution of the property according to the norm of the preceding paragraph.
Art. 28. For the tranquillization of consciences the Holy See accords a full condonation to all those who in consequence of the Italian laws changing the Ecclesiastical patrimony, are found in possession of Ecclesiastical property. For such purpose the Holy See shall give the ordinaries the opportune instructions.
Art. 29. The Italian State shall revise its legislation in so far as it concerns Ecclesiastical matters, reforming and reintegrating them in order to bring them into harmony with the direction which inspires the Treaty with the Holy See and the present Concordat. It remains now for the two High Contracting Parties to agree the following :
(a) The personality of the Ecclesiastical entities already recognised by the Italian law (the Holy See, Dioceses, Chapters, Seminaries, parishes, etc.) shall remain unchanged. Such personality shall be recognized also in churches open to public worship which at present do not enjoy it, composing those that formerly belonged to Ecclesiastical entities now suppressed, with the assignment in regard to these last of the revenue actually destined to each one from the Fund of Public Worship. Saving what is settled in the previous Art. 27, the council of administration wheresoever existing, and even if wholly or in part composed of lay persons, shall not interfere in the service of public worship, and the nomination of those composing the administration shall be made in agreement with the Ecclesiastical Authority.
(b) The juridical personality of those religious congregations shall be recognized, with or without votes, approved by the Holy See, which have their principal house within the Kingdom, and are there represented juridically and in fad by persons who are of Italian citizenship and are domiciled in Italy. The juridical personality shall also be recognized of the Italian religious provinces of those associations having their principal house abroad within the limits of the State and its colonies? when the same conditions concur. The Juridical personality of houses, when the particular rules of each order attributes to them the right of acquisition and possession, shall likewise be recognized. Finally shall be recognized the houses of the Generals, and the procurators of religious associations, including those abroad. The religious houses and associations which at present enjoy juridical personality shall conserve the same. The acts relating to the transfer of the property to which the associations now come into possession from the present owners to the association shall be exempt from any taxation.
(c) The confraternities exclusively or principally devoted to worship and which are not subject to ulterior transformation as regards their purpose, depend on the Ecclesiastical Authority for what concerns their functioning and administration.
(d) The foundation of religious worship of any kind is permitted provided that it responds to the needs of the people, and imposes no financial burden on the State. These dispositions apply to such as are already in existence.
(e) In the civil administration of Ecclesiastical patrimony resulting from the aversive laws half the council of administration shall be composed of members designated by the Ecclesiastical Authority, and likewise for the religious funds of the new provinces.
(f) The acts computed up to the present by Ecclesiastical or religious entities, without the observance of the civil law, shall be recognized and regularized by the Italian State at the request of the ordinary if presented within three years from the entry into force of this Concordat.
(g) The Italian State renounces the exemption from Ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the palatine clergy in all Italy (saving for those belonging to the Church of the Santa Sindone of Turin di Superga, and of the Sudario of Rome and the chapels annexed to the palaces which are occupied by the Sovereign and the Royal princes) entering all the nominations and provisions of
benefices and offices under the norm of the preceding Articles. An appropriate commission shall provide for the assignment to any basilica or palatine Church of a suitable endowment according to the criteria indicated for the property of the sanctuaries in Art. 27.
(h) The tributary facilities already established by Italian law in forms of Ecclesiastical entities at present existing shall remain in force; the scope of worship and religion is for all tributary effects made equal to the scope of beneficence and education. The extraordinary tax of 30 per cent imposed by Art. 18 of the law of August 15, 1867, n. 2848, the quota of concourse of which see Art. 31 of the law of July 7, 1866, n. 3036, and Article 20 of the law of August 15, 1867, n. 3848, are abolished; also the tax on the passage of interest of property constituting the endowment of benefices and other Ecclesiastical entities established by Art.
I of the Royal Decree, December 30, 1923, n. 3270, and for the future the institution of any special tribute charged on the property of the Church. Neither shall there be applied to ministers of worship in the exercise of their sacerdotal ministry any professional tax or licensing tax instituted by Royal Decree, November 18, 1923, n. 2538, in place of the suppressed tax of trade and resale, or any other tax of that nature.
(i) The use of the Ecclesiastical and religious habit on the part of seculars as on the part of Ecclesiastics or religious who have been forbidden to wear it by definitive provision of the competent Ecclesiastical Authority, which should be officially communicated to the Italian Government, is forbidden: and shall be punished with same sanctions and pains with which is
forbidden and punished the unlawful use of the military uniform.
Art. 30. The ordinary and extraordinary administration of property belonging to any Ecclesiastical Institute or religious association shall be under the direction and control of the competent authority of the Church, every intervention on the part of the Italian State being excluded, and without the obligation to submit the conversion of real estate. The Italian State recognizes in Ecclesiastical Institutes and religious associations the capacity to acquire property, saving the dispositions of the civil law concerning the acquisition of moral corporations. The Italian State by the new accords, unless established otherwise, shall continue to supply the deficiencies in the income of Ecclesiastical benefices with assignments that shall correspond to a measure not inferior to that established by the laws actually in force, in consideration of which the administration of the patrimony of the said benefices as far as it concerns acts and contracts which exceed simple administration shall take place with the intervention of the Italian State, and in the case of a vacancy the assignment of the property shall be made in the presence of a representative of the Government expressed by an appropriate document.
The Episcopal income of the suburban dioceses, and the patrimonies of the chapter and parishes of Rome and the said dioceses, is not subject to the said intervention. For the purpose of a congruous supplement, the amount of the said incomes and patrimony corresponding to the benefices shall result from a declaration rendered annually under the proper responsibility of the Bishop for the suburban dioceses and of the Cardinal Vicar for Rome.
Art. 31. The erection of new Ecclesiastical entities or religion associations shall be made by the Ecclesiastical Authority according to the norm of Canon Law; their recognition as regards civil effects shall be made by the civil authority.
Art. 32. The recognitions and the authorizations foreseen in the provisions of the present Concordat and of the Treaty shall take place through a norm established by the civil law which shall be put into harmony with the dispositions of the said Concordat and Treaty.
Art. 33. The disposition of the existing Catacombs in Rome and other parts of the territory of the Kingdom are reserved to the Holy See, with the consequent honour of keeping, maintaining and conserving them. The Holy See can, with the observance of the law of the State and saving the eventual rights of third parties, proceed to future excavations and the transfer of the bodies of the saints.
Art. 34. The Italian State, wishing to restore to the institution of matrimony, which is the foundation of the family, that dignity which is conformable with the Catholic traditions of its people, recognizes the civil effects of the Sacrament of matrimony regulated by Canon Law.
The publication of matrimony as above shall be effected in the parish, and also in the communal hall. Immediately after the celebration of matrimony, the parish priest shall explain to the newly wedded pair the civil effects of matrimony, reading to them the Articles in the civil code regarding the rights and duties of married persons, and commit the act of matrimony to writing, of which within five days he shall send an exact copy to the Commune, in order that it may be
transcribed in the registers of the civil State.
Causes concerning nullity of matrimony and dispensations from matrimony ratified but not consummated are reserved to the competence of the Ecclesiastical Tribunals and their departments. The provisions and the relative sentences when they have become definitive shall be carried to the supreme tribunal of the Segnatura, which shall control them and see that the norm of the Canon Law relative to the competence of the judge, the citations, the legitimate representation and the contumacy of the parties, has been observed. The said provisions and definitive sentences with the relative decree of the supreme tribunal of the Segnatura shall be
transmitted to the Court of Appeal of the State competent for the territory, which shall, by an order of chamber of Council, render effective the civil effects and order the same to be annotated in the margin of the Act of Matrimony of the civil State. As to causes of personal separation the Holy See agrees that these shall be judged by the ordinary civil authority.
Art. 35. For secondary (scuola media) schools of instruction carried on by Ecclesiastical or religious associations the examination by the State with effective parity of conditions for candidates of the Government schools and candidates of the said schools shall remain in force.
Art. 36. Italy, considering the teaching of Christian doctrine according to the form received by Catholic tradition as the foundation and the crown of public instruction, agrees that religious instruction imparted in the public elementary schools shall have a further development in the secondary schools according to a programme to be established by an accord between the
Holy See and the State. Such teaching shall be given by means of masters and professors, priests and religious approved by the Ecclesiastical Authority, and subsidiaries by means of lay masters and professors, who for this end shall be furnished with a certificate of
fitness to be issued by the ordinary of the diocese. The revocation of the certificate on the part of the ordinary deprives the teachers of the capacity to teach. For the said religious teaching there shall only be used in the public schools the text-books approved by the Ecclesiastical
Authority.
Art. 37. The director of the State Association of physical culture for pre-military instruction, of the Avanguardisti and the Balilla, in order to render possible the religious instruction of the youth entrusted to them, shall dispose the hours in such a way as shall not impede on Sundays and days of precept the fulfilment of their religious duties. The same applies to the directors of public schools for gatherings of their pupils on the said feast days.
Art. 38. The nomination of the professors of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and the dependent institute of Mary Immaculate are subject to the nihil obstat on the part of the Holy See directed to secure that nothing shall be wanting from the moral and religious point of view.
Art. 39. The Universities, the greater and lesser Seminaries, diocesan, inter-diocesan or regional, the academies, the colleges and other Catholic Institutes for Ecclesiastical formation and culture shall continue to depend solely from the Holy See without any interference on the part of the scholastic authority of the Kingdom.
Art. 40. The doctorate in Sacred Theology bestowed by the Faculty approved by the Holy See shall be recognized by the Italian State ; likewise shall be recognized the diplomas which shall be given in the schools of palæography, archives and diplomatic documents erected near the Library and the Archives in the City of the Vatican.
Art. 41. Italy recognizes the use in the Kingdom and its colonies of the Pontifical honours of knighthood by means of a register of briefs of the nominations through the presentation of the brief by the person interested and the request for its inscription therein.
Art. 42. Italy shall admit the recognition by a Royal decree of titles of nobility conferred by the Supreme Pontiff, even after 1870, and of those that shall be conferred in the future.
It shall also be established that the said recognition in Italy shall not be subject to taxation.
Art. 43. The Italian State recognizes the organizations dependent from the Italian Catholic action in so far as the Holy See has disposed that they carry out their activity outside any political party and under the immediate dependence of the Hierarchy of the Church for the diffusion and exercise of Catholic principles. The Holy See takes the occasion of the stipulation of the present Concordat to renew to all Ecclesiastics and religious of Italy the prohibition of belonging to and fighting for any political party whatsoever.
Art. 44. If any difficulty shall arise in the future concerning the interpretation of the present Concordat, the Holy See and Italy shall proceed by a common examination to a friendly solution.
Art. 45. The present Concordat shall come into force by exchange of the ratifications at the same time as the Treaty between the two High Parties for the elimination of ' the Roman Question. '
With the entry into force of the present Concordat, the Concordat with the former Italian States shall cease to be operative. The Austrian law, the laws and decrees of the Italian State actually in force, in so far as they are opposed to the depositions of the present Concordat, shall be abrogated by the entry into force of the same. To prepare for the execution of the present Concordat, a commission shall be nominated immediately after the signing thereof, comprised of persons to be designated by the two High Parties.
Rome, eleventh February, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-nine.
PIETRO CARD. GASPARRI.BENITO MUSSOLINI.
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At the conclusion of the signing, the following official communiqué was released:
The Holy See considers that with the Agreements signed today it possesses the guarantees necessary to provide due liberty and independence to the spiritual government of the dioceses of Rome and of the Catholic Church in Italy and the whole world.
It declares the Roman question definitely and irrevocably settled, and therefore eliminated, and recognizes the Kingdom of Italy under the dynasty of the House of Savoy, with Rome as the capital of the Italian State. Italy, on its side, recognizes the State of the Vatican City under the sovereignty of the Supreme Pontiff. The Law of Guarantees and any other Law or Act contrary to the present Treaty is abrogated.
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Sources:
+ The Coins and Medals of the Vatican, by Joseph Sadow and Thomas Sarro Jr., Copyright 1977 by Sanford J. Durst, 133 E. 58th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022, Library of Congress No. 76-40814, ISBN 0-915262-06-1, pages 106-114 (only the 1st part of Treaty).
± The Treaty of the Lateran, by Benedict Williamson, with a forward by his eminence [Francis] Cardinal Bourne, Archbishop of
Westminster, Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., London, 1929, pages 42-66.
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Agreement Between the Italian Republic and the Holy See-Document Information Country: Italy Region: Europe Document Type: International Treaty or Covenant Dates:
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Agreement Between the Italian Republic and the Holy See Signed by the Italian Republic and the Holy See on 18 February 1984. Ratified by the Italian Parliament on 25 March 1985. Reproduced with permission from 24 I.L.M. 1589 (1985), ©The American Society of International Law.Taking into account the process of political and social change that has occurred in Italy over the last decades and the developments which have taken place in the Church since the Second Vatican Council; Bearing in mind, on the part of the Italian Republic, the principles proclaimed in its Constitution and, on the part of the Holy See, the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council’s declarations on religious freedom and on the relations between the Church
and the polity, as well as the new codification of canon law;
Considering further that, in accordance with Article 7, paragraph (2) of the Constitution of the Italian Republic, the relations between the State and the Catholic Church are governed by the Lateran Pacts, which, however, can be modified by common agreement of the two Parties without requiring any procedure of Constitutional revision; Have recognized the opportunity of entering into the following mutually agreed amendments to the Lateran Concordat:
Article 1 The Italian Republic and the Holy See reaffirm that the State and the Catholic Church are, each in its own order, independent and sovereign and commit themselves to the full respect of this principle in their mutual relations and to reciprocal collaboration for the promotion of man and the common good of the Country.
Article 2 1. The Italian Republic shall recognize the full freedom of the Church to develop its pastoral, educational, and charitable mission, of evangelization and sanctification. In particular, the Church shall be assured the freedom of organization, of public exercise of worship, of exercise of its magisterium and spiritual ministry as well as of exercise of jurisdiction in ecclesiastical matters.
2. It shall be equally assured the reciprocal freedom of communication and correspondence between the Holy See, the Italian Bishops Conference, the Regional Bishops Conferences, the bishops, the clergy and the faithful, as well as the freedom of printing and circulating acts and documents concerning the mission of the Church.
3. Catholics and their associations and organizations shall be granted the full freedom of assembly and of expression of their thoughts by oral, written, or any other means of publication.
4. The Italian Republic acknowledges the particular significance that Rome, the Episcopal See of the Supreme Pontiff, has to Catholicism.
Article 3 1. The boundaries of the dioceses and of the parishes shall be freely determined by the ecclesiastical authority. The Holy See commits itself not to include any part of the Italian territory into a diocese whose Episcopal See is in the territory of another State.
2. Appointments to ecclesiastical offices shall be freely made by the ecclesiastical authority. The ecclesiastical authority shall communicate to the competent civil authorities the appointments of the Archbishops and diocesan bishops, of the coadjutors, the abbots and prelates with territorial jurisdiction as well as of the parish priests and the appointments to the other ecclesiastical offices relevant for the State legal order.
3. Except for the diocese of Rome and for the suburban ones, ecclesiastics who are not Italian citizens shall not be appointed to the offices hereof.
Article 4 1. The priests, the deacons, and the members of the religious orders who have taken vows shall have the right to obtain, at their own request, an exemption from the military service or to be assigned to the substitutive Civil Service.
2. In the event of general mobilization, the ecclesiastics who have not been assigned to the care of souls shall be called to exercise their religious office among the troops or, subordinately, they shall be assigned to the medical service.
3. Students of theology, those in the last two years of their theological preparation for ordination and novices of religious institutes and societies for apostolic life may take advantage of the same postponements of military service which are granted to the students of Italian Universities.
4. Ecclesiastics shall not be required to provide to magistrates or other authorities any information regarding persons or matters known to them by reason of their ministry.
Article 5 1. Buildings open to worship shall not be requisitioned, occupied, expropriated or demolished except for grave reasons and pursuant to a previous agreement with the competent ecclesiastical authority.
2. Except in cases of urgent necessity, the police force shall not enter buildings open to worship for the purpose of carrying out its duties without first advising the ecclesiastical authority thereof.
3. The civil authority shall take into account the religious needs of the people, as presented to it by the competent ecclesiastical authority, in connection with the construction of new buildings for Catholic worship and of the pertinent parish structures.
Article 6 The Italian Republic shall recognize as public holidays every Sunday and all the other religious feasts determined by agreement between the Parties.
Article 7 1. The Italian Republic, in accordance with the principle enunciated in Article 20 of its Constitution, reaffirms that the ecclesiastical character and the religious or worship purpose of an association or institution shall not be the motive of special legislative limitations or of special tax exemptions with regard to its constitution, legal capacity, or any other form of activity.
2. The legal personality previously granted to ecclesiastical bodies shall be retained and the Italian Republic, upon request of the ecclesiastical authority or with its consent, shall continue to recognize the legal personality of the ecclesiastical bodies whose See is in Italy, who are constituted or approved according to the norms of canon law and have a religious or worship
purpose. A similar procedure shall be followed in order to recognize civil effects to any substantial change of the same bodies.
3. With respect to taxation, ecclesiastical bodies having a religious or devotional purpose, as well as activities directed to that same scope shall be treated in the same manner as those having a beneficent or educational purpose. The activities carried out by ecclesiastical bodies that are not for religious or devotional purposes shall be subject, in accordance with the structure and purpose of such bodies, to the laws of the State concerning such activities and to the tax
burden provided for the same.
4. The buildings open to worship, the publications of acts, the posting of notices in the interior or at the outside doors of the worship or ecclesiastical buildings, and the collections made in the aforesaid buildings shall continue to be subject to the regulations presently in force.
5. The administration of the property owned by ecclesiastical bodies shall be subject to the controls provided by canon law. The acquisitions made by these bodies shall also be subject, however, to the controls provided for in the Italian laws on acquisition by legal persons.
6. On the occasion of the signing of the present agreement, the Parties shall appoint a joint Commission to formulate norms, that will be subsequently submitted for their approval, for the regulation of the whole matter of ecclesiastical bodies and properties and for the revision of the financial obligations of the Italian State and of its intervention into the patrimonial management of ecclesiastical bodies. Upon a temporary basis and until the entry into force of the new regulation, Articles 17, paragraph (3), 18, 27, 29 and 30 of the previous text of the Concordat shall remain applicable.
Article 8 1. Civil effects shall be recognized for marriages contracted according to the norms of canon law, provided that the act of marriage be entered in the registers of the vital statistics, and the notices of marriage have been previously published at the communal offices. Immediately after the ceremony, the parish priest or his delegate shall explain the civil effects of the marriage to the parties, by reading the Articles of the Civil Code concerning the rights and duties of married people and he shall thereafter draw up, in original duplicate, the certificate of marriage, in which the spouses’ declarations permitted by civil law may be inserted. The Holy See acknowledges that the registration shall not take place:
(A) When the spouses do not meet the requirements of age determined by civil law for celebration;
(B) When an impediment from which, according to civil law, no derogation is permitted, exists between the spouses. However, registration is permitted when, according to civil law, an action for nullity or annulment can no longer be maintained. The request for registration shall be made, in writing and within five days from the celebration, by the parish priest of the place
where the marriage has been celebrated. If the conditions for registration are satisfied, the vital statistics officer shall record it within 24 hours from the receipt of the act and shall give notice thereof to the parish priest.
The marriage shall have civil effects from the moment of the celebration, even if the vital statistics officer has, for any reason, made the registration after the prescribed term. The registration can also be made subsequently upon request of the two spouses, or of one of them with the knowledge and without the opposition of the other, provided that both have retained single status without interruption from the moment of the celebration to the request for registration and the rights legally acquired by third parties are not prejudiced.
2. The judgments of nullity of marriage pronounced by ecclesiastical tribunals, together with the decree of execution issued by the superior controlling ecclesiastical authority, shall be declared, at the request of the parties or of one of them, effective within the Italian Republic by judgment of the competent Court of Appeal, upon verifying:
(A) that the ecclesiastical judge was the competent judge to adjudicate the action, the marriage having been celebrated in accordance with the present Article;
(B) that in the proceedings before the ecclesiastical tribunals the right to sue and to defend in Court has been assured to the parties in a way not dissimilar from what is required by the fundamental principles of the Italian legal system;
(C) that the other conditions required by the Italian legislation for the declaration of efficacy of foreign judgments are present. The Court of Appeal may, with the judgment that recognizes a canonical judgment, take temporary economical measures in favor of one of the two spouses whose marriage has been declared null, referring the parties to the competent judge for a final
decision on the matter.
3. In entering into the present regulation of matrimonial matters the Holy See herein reaffirms the unchangeable validity of the Catholic teaching on marriage and the concern of the Church for the dignity and values of the family, foundation of the society.
Article 9 1. The Italian Republic, in conformity with the principle of freedom of schools and teaching and according to the terms provided for in its Constitution, shall guarantee to the Catholic Church the right to freely establish schools of every order and grade and educational institutes. Full freedom shall be assured to private schools officially recognized by the State and it shall also be assured to their pupils school treatment equivalent to that applied to the pupils of schools run by the State or by the other territorial entities, also with regards to the State exam.
2. The Italian Republic, recognizing the value of the religious culture and considering that the principles of the Catholic Church are part of the historical heritage of the Italian people, shall continue to assure, within the framework of the scope of the schools, the teaching of Catholic religion in the public schools of every order and grade except for Universities. With respect for the freedom of conscience and educational responsibility of the parents, everyone shall be granted the right to choose whether or not to receive religious instruction. When they enroll, the students or their parents shall exercise this right at the request of the school authority and their choice shall not give rise to any form of discrimination.
Article 10 1. The Universities, seminaries, academies, colleges, and other institutions for ecclesiastics and members of religious orders or for the training in the ecclesiastical disciplines, established according to canon law, shall continue to be subordinate to the ecclesiastical authority alone.
2. The academic degrees in theology and in the other ecclesiastical disciplines, determined by the agreement of the contracting Parties and granted by the faculties approved by the Holy See, shall be recognized by the State. The diplomas of Paleography, Diplomacy, Custody of Historical Documents, and Library Sciences obtained at Vatican schools shall likewise be recognized.
3. The appointment of professors to the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and the subordinate institutes shall be subject to the approval of the candidates’ religious profile by the competent ecclesiastical authority.
Article 11 1. The Italian Republic assures that service in the army, in the police or in any other similar service, time spent in hospitals, in sanatoria or in houses of public assistance and confinment to the institutes for prevention and punishment shall not impede the exercise of religious freedom and the fulfillment of the practices of Catholic worship.
2. The spiritual assistance to the same shall be assured by ecclesiastics appointed by the competent Italian authorities upon designation by the ecclesiastical authority and in accordance with the legal status, the personnel and the formalities determined by common agreement of these authorities.
Article 12 1. The Holy See and the Italian Republic, each in its proper order, shall collaborate for the protection of the historical and artistic heritage. In order to harmonize the application of Italian law with the religious needs, the competent authorities of the two Parties shall
agree upon appropriate provisions for the protection, appraisal, and enjoyment of cultural property of religious interest that belongs to ecclesiastical bodies or institutions. The preservation and consultation of archives of historical interest and of the libraries of the same bodies and institutions shall be favoured and facilitated on the basis of understandings between the competent authorities of the two Parties.
2. The Holy See shall retain the power to dispose of the Christian catacombs that exist underground at Rome and other parts of the Italian territory, bearing the consequent responsibility for their custody, maintenance and preservation, but it shall waive the power to dispose of the other catacombs. Subject to the laws of the State and to any rights of third parties, the Holy See shall be at liberty to proceed with any necessary excavation and removal of sacred relics.
Article 13 1. The preceding provisions shall be amendments to the Lateran Concordat accepted by the two Parties and shall enter into force on the exchange of the instruments of ratification. Except for what is provided in Article 7, paragraph (6), the provisions of the Concordat not reproduced in the present text are herein repealed.
2. Additional matters for which a need of collaboration between the Catholic Church and the State might arise, shall be governed by further agreements between the two Parties or by understandings between the competent authorities of the State and of the Italian Bishops Conference.
Article 14 If, in the future, any difficulties should arise with regard to the interpretation or application of the preceding provisions, the Holy See and the Italian Republic shall entrust the search for an amicable settlement to a joint Commission appointed by them.
Rome, February 18, 1984 Signed on February 18, 1984
On the occasion of the signing of the Agreement that modifies the Lateran Concordat, the Holy See and the Italian Republic, desiring to assure, by means of appropriate specifications, the best application of the Lateran Pacts and the agreed upon amendments, and willing to avoid any difficulties of interpretation thereof, herein jointly declare:
1. In relation to Article 1
The principle of the Catholic religion as the sole religion of the Italian State, originally referred to by the Lateran Pacts, shall be considered to be no longer in force.
2. In relation to Article 4
(a) With reference to Paragraph (2), the ordinaries, parish priests, parish vicars, rectors of churches open to worship and priests permanently assigned to the services of spiritual assistance referred to in Article 11 shall be considered to be in cure of souls.
(b) The Italian Republic assures that the judicial authority shall inform the ecclesiastical authority with territorial competence of any criminal proceedings against ecclesiastics.
(c) The Holy See takes advantage of the amendments to the Lateran Concordat to declare its agreement, without prejudice to the canon legal system, with the interpretation given by the Italian State to Article 23, paragraph (2) of the Lateran Treaty, according to which the civil effects of the judgments and final orders pronounced by ecclesiastical authorities and
provided by this Article shall be understood in accordance with the rights of Italian citizens which are constitutionally recognized.
3. In relation to Article 7
(a) The Italian Republic assures that no obligation to proceed with the conversion of real property shall exist upon ecclesiastical bodies, unless contrary agreements are concluded from time to time between the competent governmental and ecclesiastical authorities when special reasons are present.
(b) The joint Commission referred to in Paragraph (6) shall terminate its work within and no later than six months from the signing of the present agreement.
4. In relation to Article 8
(a) In view of the application of Paragraph (1) (B), the following shall be understood to be impediments from which, according to civil law, no derogation is permitted:
(1) the fact that one of the contracting parties is interdicted for mental infirmity;
(2) the existence, between the spouses, of a previous marriage which is valid for civil purposes;
(3) the impediments which derive from crime of affinity in a direct line.
(b) With reference to Paragraph (2), in view of the application of Articles 796 and 797 of the Italian Code of Civil Procedure, the specificity of the canon legal system, that governs the bond of matrimony which had its origin therein, shall be taken into account. In particular:
(1) it shall be taken into consideration that the references made by Italian law to the law of the place where the judicial proceedings have taken place shall be understood as relating to canon law;
(2) final judgment shall be considered to be a judgment that is enforceable according to canon law;
(3) it is understood that, in any case, the merits shall not be re-examined.
(c) The provisions of Paragraph (2) shall also be applied to marriages celebrated, before the entry into force of the present agreement, in conformity with the norms of Article 34 of the Lateran Concordat and of the law No. 847 of May 27, 1929 and for which a proceeding before the civil judicial authority, as provided by the same norms, has not been initiated.
5. In relation to Article 9
(a) The teaching of Catholic religion in the schools indicated at Paragraph (2) shall be given — in conformity with the doctrine of the Church and with respect for the freedom of conscience of the pupils — by the teachers who are recognized by the ecclesiastical authority as being qualified thereto and who are appointed, in agreement therewith, by the school authority. In infant and elementary schools, this teaching may be given by the class teacher, if recognized by the ecclesiastical authority as being qualified thereto and if willing to do it.
(b) By means of a subsequent understanding between the competent school authorities and the Italian Bishops Conference, it shall be determined:
(1) the teaching prospectus of Catholic religion in public schools of every order and grade;
(2) the organization of this teaching, also with respect to its position in the school time table;
(3) the criteria for selecting the textbooks;
(4) the requirements of professional qualification for the teachers.
(c) The provisions of this Article shall not prejudice the regulations presently in force in the regions on the borders of the Country, in which the matter is governed by special norms.
6. In relation to Article 10
The Italian Republic, in interpreting Paragraph (3) -- that does not change Article 38 of the Concordat signed on February 11, 1929 -- shall follow the judgment of the Constitutional Court, No. 195/1972, concerning the same Article.
7. In relation to Article 13, Paragraph (1)
The Parties shall initiate appropriate consultations with a view of the implement, each within its proper order, the provisions of the present agreement. The present Additional Protocol is an integral part fo the Agreement that modifies the Lateran Concordat and that was
contextually signed by the Holy See and the Italian Republic. Rome, February 18, 1984
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