UNITED STATES
The Open Tabernacle (blog)
October 28, 2018
By Betty Clermont
The institution as we know it today began with a 1929 treaty. Italy created the Vatican as an independent state, meaning the pope and his men are not subject to any regulation or law enforcement except their own. At the same time, it was decided that the financial windfall from the treaty would be handled without moral or ethical restraint. The greatest atrocity of the Church is the centuries-long, world-wide sexual torture of children. However, the corruption resulting from the combination of no legal oversight and amoral finances – evidenced by monetary crimes and malfeasance – were known long before the extent of the cruelties of sex abuse.
Until the middle of the 19th century, the Vatican obtained much of its income from its feudal territories known as the Papal States, a broad swath of land across central Italy. As part of the movement to unify the Italian peninsular into one nation, King Victor Emmanuel’s army seized the Papal States in 1860 and captured Rome in 1870 including the Vatican. Italy was unified a year later.
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