Education

Vatican City has 6 papal universities recognized by the Holy See (including Gregoriana, Urbaniana, Salesiana), 3 papal universities and other ecclesiastical faculties and special institutes (including Istituto Biblico, Istituto Patristico Augustinianum, Istituto di Studi Arabi e d’Islamistica). They offer study, research and advanced training opportunities in numerous fields. Most of the facilities are located outside the territory of the Vatican City in the urban area of ​​Rome. The approximately 20,000 students come from over 100 countries. The proportion of Italian students in all papal universities is over 50%.

Pope

Pope [from church Latin papa “bishop (of Rome)”, from Latin papa “father”], name for the head of the Catholic Church.

With the official titles »Bishop of Rome, Deputy of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Apostle Prince, Head of the Universal Church, Patriarch of the West (patriarchal title filed by Benedict XVI in 2006), Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman ecclesiastical province, sovereign of the state of the Vatican City «. Honorary title and salutation is “Holy Father”, self-designation is often “servus servorum Dei” (“Servant of the Servants of God”; first in the 6th century).

Other titles reserved for the Pope and intended to mark his position within the ecclesiastical hierarchy are “Summus Pontifex” (since the 13th century) and Pontifex Maximus (since the 14th century). – With regard to his canonical position, the Pope is the bearer of the highest authority in the Catholic Church and (since 1870) the infallible teaching authority in questions of faith (infallibility) within the framework of the Church’s teaching office; with regard to his position under international law, a sovereign of his own right with all the powers arising therefrom (Holy See). – According to the Catholic understanding, the Pope is in the direct and uninterrupted succession of the Apostle Peter, from which theological (today exegetically not undisputed) his Petrine ministry, the papal claim to the highest apostolic authority in ecumenism, is derived with express reference to Matthew 16, 17-19 (also after the 2nd Vatican Council) (primacy of the Pope, Papacy).

The papal election took place in the 1st millennium by the clergy and the people of Rome. Nicholas II restricted the election in 1059 to the cardinal bishops; the 3rd Lateran Council (1179) demanded a two-thirds majority for the validity. The current order of papal elections was issued in 1996 by John Paul II with the Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici Gregis (Conclave). Whether the Pope can bindingly determine his successor (designation) is disputed. The voluntary resignation (resignation) of a Pope (Cölestin V, Benedict XVI.) Is possible, his forced removal (by a court or council) has been controversial since the Middle Ages. as In ecclesiastical history, the antipope is someone who accepts the election of a pope, although a pope has already been elected according to canon law (often not to be decided). Since the 11th century, the newly elected Pope has given up his real name and adopted a papal name (exceptions: Hadrian VI. And Marcellus II.). The first double name was John Paul I.

The incumbent Pope (since March 13, 2013) is Francis.

Papal States

Papal state, name for the former territory of the Pope in central Italy; since the 6th century also called Patrimonium Petri (property of Peter). The core was the property of the Church in Rome and in other Italian areas, which resulted from gifts and bequests to the Church. As early as the 6th century, the Pope, as Bishop of Rome, was the richest landowner in Italy with an area of ​​85 square miles. Pope Gregory the Great set up a central administration for the entire property. After disputes with the Eastern Roman emperors and the Lombard kings, the area melted into the Byzantine administrative district (ducat) of Rome. The expansion policy of the Lombard king Aistulf persuaded Pope Stephan II to form an alliance with the Frankish Empire. In return for the religious legitimacy of the Carolingian he acquired with the Pippi’s donation (754/756 enforced against the Lombards) – confirmed and extended under Charlemagne (Carolingian donation) – the Exarchate of Ravenna, the Pentapolis and Emilia, parts of Tuscia and the Sabina, while the former papal possessions in southern Italy and Sicily were confiscated by Byzantium. Although the Roman bishops took on more and more public tasks (e.g. supplying the population, military defense) since the time of the Great Migration, they recognized up to Pope Hadrian I. (772–795) assumed Byzantine suzerainty. After the collapse of Byzantine power in Italy, the popes tried to v. a. citing the Donation of Constantine to enforce their claims to power and property and to shake off the sovereignty of the German emperors. Innocent III (1198–1216) decided the dispute over the property of Margravine Mathilde von Tuszien († 1115) in favor of the Papal States against the claims of the emperor. The gold bull of Eger (1213), in which King Friedrich II. officially recognized the Papal State, which was unable to consolidate due to the 70-year absence of the Popes from Rome (Avignon exile). The restoration of papal authority only succeeded after the Western schism had been overcome with the appearance of the Renaissance popes, who finally became masters of the papal state. Especially Julius II. (1503–13), during the period of which the papal state reached its greatest expansion – even if only for a short time – tried to establish a centralized organization. He is seen as the real founder of a “state” of the church. The attempt at an independent foreign policy of the papacy since the middle of the 15th century failed, however. Like the other Italian states, the papal state remained dependent on the great powers (e.g. Spain, Austria), who vied for supremacy in Italy, until the end of the 18th century. In the course of the French Revolution and Napoleonic church policy, the papal state, which was greatly reduced by the ceding of territories, was replaced at the end of the 18th century. Pius VII.). After the Congress of Vienna (1815) confirmed it again within the limits of 1797, but it was politically, economically and militarily untenable in the face of modern challenges and especially the Italian national movement, the Papal State was reduced to the former Patrimony of Petri in 1860 and to the Italian in 1870 Incorporated nation-state, whereupon Pius IX. (1846–78) regarded as a “prisoner of the Vatican”. The Roman question of papal sovereignty on papal territory (Vatican City) was only resolved in the Lateran Treaty of 1929.