This video (edited version) is intended to educate viewers of the circumstance surrounding the most controversial resignation of Pope Benedict the XVI. The Catholic church is a beacon of light and a source of hope to many of it’s followers. The failings of it’s hierarchy to uphold it’s theocratic responsibility should serve as a warning to other Christian institutions of the grave consequences of their actions. (Original version published by Frontline)
Shortest office held by a pope before RESIGNATION in almost 600 years.
Popes with the shortest reigns:
Urban VII (September 15–September 27, 1590): reigned for 13 calendar days, died before consecration.
Boniface VI (April, 896): reigned for 16 calendar days
Celestine IV (October 25–November 10, 1241): reigned for 17 calendar days, died before consecration.
Theodore II (December, 897): reigned for 20 calendar days
Sisinnius (January 15–February 4, 708): reigned for 21 calendar days
Marcellus II (April 9–May 1, 1555): reigned for 22 calendar days
Damasus II (July 17–August 9, 1048): reigned for 24 calendar days
Pius III (September 22–October 18, 1503): reigned for 27 calendar days.
Leo XI (April 1–April 27, 1605): reigned for 27 calendar days
Benedict V (May 22–June 23, 964): reigned for 33 calendar days.
John Paul I (August 26–September 28, 1978): reigned for 33 calendar days.
Show less
Vatican City is the smallest country in the world.
Encircled by a 2-mile border with Italy, Vatican City is an independent city-state that covers just over 100 acres, making it one-eighth the size of New York’s Central Park. Vatican City is governed as an absolute monarchy with the pope at its head. The Vatican mints its own euros, prints its own stamps, issues passports and license plates, operates media outlets and has its own flag and anthem. One government function it lacks: taxation. Museum admission fees, stamp and souvenir sales, and contributions generate the Vatican’s revenue.
St. Peter’s Basilica sits atop a city of the dead, including its namesake’s tomb.
A Roman necropolis stood on Vatican Hill in pagan times. When a great fire leveled much of Rome in A.D. 64, Emperor Nero, seeking to shift blame from himself, accused the Christians of starting the blaze. He executed them by burning them at the stake, tearing them apart with wild beasts and crucifying them. Among those crucified was St. Peter—disciple of Jesus Christ, leader of the Apostles and the first bishop of Rome—who was supposedly buried in a shallow grave on Vatican Hill. By the fourth century and official recognition of the Christian religion in Rome, Emperor Constantine began construction of the original basilica atop the ancient burial ground with what was believed to be the tomb of St. Peter at its center. The present basilica, built starting in the 1500s, sits over a maze of catacombs and St. Peter’s suspected grave.
For nearly 60 years in the 1800s and 1900s, popes refused to leave the Vatican.
Popes ruled over a collection of sovereign Papal States throughout central Italy until the country was unified in 1870. The new secular government had seized all the land of the Papal States with the exception of the small patch of the Vatican, and a cold war of sorts then broke out between the church and the Italian government. Popes refused to recognize the authority of the Kingdom of Italy, and the Vatican remained beyond Italian national control. Pope Pius IX proclaimed himself a “prisoner of the Vatican,” and for almost 60 years popes refused to leave the Vatican and submit to the authority of the Italian government. When Italian troops were present in St. Peter’s Square, popes even refused to give blessings or appear from the balcony overlooking the public space.
At several times during the Vatican’s history, popes escaped through a secret passageway.
In 1277, a half-mile-long elevated covered passageway, the Passetto di Borgo, was constructed to link the Vatican with the fortified Castel Sant’Angelo on the banks of the Tiber River. It served as an escape route for popes, most notably in 1527 when it likely saved the life of Pope Clement VII during the sack of Rome. As the forces of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V rampaged through the city and murdered priests and nuns, the Swiss Guard held back the enemy long enough to allow Clement to safely reach the Castel Sant’Angelo, although 147 of the pope’s forces lost their lives in the battle.
http://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-vatican
CREDITS:
Frontline
SNAP
PBS
https://soundcloud.com/
source