At that time, the Bersaglieri (an infantry force of the Italian army) had conquered the city of Rome, putting an end to the Papal States. In one fell swoop, the Pope had lost all temporal power, his troops and territories. The Papal States were forcibly incorporated into the nation-state of Italy, which had existed since 1861. Outraged, the then Pope Pius IX styled himself the "prisoner of the Vatican", an area around St. Peter's Basilica, a tiny 44 hectares in size and located in the middle of the City of Rome. There, the Pope's sovereignty continued de facto, but it was not legally secured. According to the law, the Pope was an ordinary Italian citizen.

Until 1929, a treaty settlement remained elusive. This conflict, which lasted for almost 60 years, over the status of Rome as the Italian capital and the Vatican’s status under state law within Rome between 1870 and 1929 is known as the "Roman Question". It was then finally resolved with the Lateran Treaties.

With them, Mussolini and Pius XI stipulated that the secular territory of the "Holy See" (the episcopal see of Rome) would henceforth be limited to the Vatican City. This recognised the Vatican as the successor to the Papal States and gave it the legal status of an independent nation with the designation "Vatican City State", which gave the popes back their sovereignty. According to the Lateran Treaties, the actual territory of Vatican City consists only of the palaces and gardens within the Vatican walls, St. Peter's Basilica and St. Peter's Square (see the floor plan on page 13). The "Holy See" renounced the territories of the old Papal States and recognised Rome as the Italian seat of government. Furthermore, the Vatican committed itself to neutrality in international disputes; it was only allowed to intervene in a mediatory capacity.

Common interest
Both the dictator with power over Italy and God's representative on earth had a great interest in concluding the Lateran Treaties. The former wanted to enhance the prestige of his fascist regime nationally and internationally through an agreement with the Catholic Church. He was also interested in keeping the political activities of the "Azione Cattolica", a lay movement founded in 1867 and controlled by the Church, in check in Italy. On the other hand, the State Treaty guaranteed Pius XI the sovereignty of the "Holy See" on an international level with the Vatican City as a new state and the Pope as head of state. The treaties also gave the Catholic Church numerous privileges in Italy, especially in marriage law and school education.

This was especially important to Pius XI, whose anti-liberal mindset could certainly compete with his fascist treaty partner. In his encyclical "Divini illius magistri", which he published immediately after the signing of the Lateran Treaties, he put forward his crude theses on the education of children: any education that denied original sin and relied solely on the forces of nature was wrong. Just as dangerous as sex education was the co-education of boys and girls. The neutral, secular school would sooner or later become an anti-religious school.

Pius XI also believed that race and nation belonged to the fundamental values of human community formation, which "claim an essential and honourable place within the earthly order". Anyone who espouses such reactionary theses has no trouble getting involved with fascist tyrannies. And so, immediately after Adolf Hitler came to power, he concluded with him the state-church treaty, known as the Reich Concordat, between the «Holy See» and the German Reich. The Lateran Treaties with Mussolini served as a model. This Reich Concordat is still valid today and represents a serious obstacle in the attempt to disentangle church and state in Germany.

Switzerland and the Vatican
The end of the Papal States in 1870 also had an impact on Switzerland's diplomatic relations with the «Holy See». The Federal Council began to question the need for a nunciature (embassy) in Switzerland, although the «Holy See» continued to exist as a subject of international law. In 1873, Pope Pius IX condemned anti-Catholic currents in Switzerland in the circular "Etsi multa luctuosa". The Federal Council then broke off diplomatic relations. It was not until 1920 that the Federal Council decided to allow the nunciature back in - but without its own representation in the Vatican. The Catholic Giuseppe Motta had succeeded in convincing his liberal and reformist colleagues of the necessity of resuming diplomatic relations with the "Holy See" without much publicity. The decision also came about because bourgeois Switzerland feared an upheaval of political forces after the general strike of 1918 and thus hoped to achieve a calming down at least "on the Catholic front".

In the 1990s, the controversy surrounding the suffragan bishop of Chur, who later became Bishop Wolfgang Haas, caused new tensions. The "Holy See" and the nunciature played a not uncontroversial role in this matter. This was the context in which the creation of a separate diplomatic representation to the Pope was suggested. In 1991, the Federal Council appointed an "Ambassador on Special Mission to the Holy See", and from 2004 Switzerland looked after its interests by means of "lateral accreditation", i.e. still without its own embassy on the ground.

Establishment of a Swiss Embassy
It was once again a Catholic Ticino Federal Councillor, like Motta at the time, who opened a new chapter in relations with the Vatican by establishing a Swiss embassy in the "Holy See": on 6 May this year, President Ignazio Cassis visited Rome, met the Pope, attended the swearing-in of the new Swiss Guard mercenaries - and inaugurated the new Swiss embassy. With this, he had "eliminated the last anomaly", as the "NZZ" journalist Luzi Bernet qualified this act.

In the Federal Council, Cassis probably had the support of Ueli Maurer and Guy Parmelin, both Protestants. Bernet knows that they were impressed by the Vatican apparatus after visits to the Vatican. "Gaudium Magnum", then, or in the words of former Federal Councillor Adolf Ogi: "Joy reigns"? But what is so special about the "Vatican apparatus" that it even impresses Swiss Federal Councillors?

Pope Francis, who never misses an opportunity to insist on respect for democracy and the rule of law throughout the world, is himself the head of a divine state that has never professed either the rule of law or the separation of powers. It has signed neither the European Convention on Human Rights nor the UN Charter on Human Rights, nor the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention). It is also the only European country (except Belarus) not to belong to the International Criminal Court.

The Pope has dictatorial powers: The Basic Law of the Vatican states in Article 1, paragraph 1: "The Pope, as Supreme Head, possesses plenary legislative, executive and judicial power." He is also infallible in matters of faith and morals. That the Vatican interferes in the affairs of other countries without scruples is well known. Where liberal laws on women's rights, abortion, homosexuality, separation of church and state are discussed, the Vatican interferes. And it has the means to do so. Swiss ex-diplomat Paul Widmer: "The Holy See has 3,000 dioceses and 40,000 priests all over the world. It knows what is happening in the farthest corner of Congo." Catholic clergy in every country must promise obedience to the Pope and their bishop.

In a conflict of loyalties between his own country and the directives of the head of the Vatican state, a priest is therefore a notoriously unreliable citizen. It is certainly appropriate that Switzerland maintains normal diplomatic relations with unjust states such as the Vatican City State, as it does with states such as North Korea, Eritrea, Iran or Saudi Arabia. But just as the existence of the Swiss embassy in Pyongyang cannot be a reason for special rejoicing, neither is the opening of the Swiss Embassy at the Vatican. Regulated diplomatic relations should no more be an obstacle to taking note of the true character of a state than the kitschy patriotic attachment to a mercenary force in Renaissance costumes. For outside the usual diplomatic dealings with a foreign state, it does matter whether said state is a democratic constitutional one or a dictatorship that also interferes in the interests of other countries. This is particularly important for a country like Switzerland.

The opening of the Swiss embassy in the Vatican is indeed normal diplomatic business. But the pilgrimage of a member of the government of a democratic constitutional state to the last absolutist monarch on earth, which took place on this occasion, would not have been necessary. There was nothing to celebrate. The Swiss foreign minister, however, used his visit to Rome as an opportunity to make a few particularly stupid and provocative statements. For example, he claimed that the mercenary force known as the Swiss Guard was "a Swiss institution that is in the service of the Pope". It is one of the symbols that give us identity. The financing of the Vatican's mercenaries is a state matter that has to do with symbolism, and Switzerland is doing everything it can to ensure the continued existence of the papal foreign legion, Cassis stressed. And particularly alarming for us democrats: "The Catholic Church is my compass of values."