VATICAN CITY

Taranaki Daily News, 1 February 1933, Page 10

VATICAN CITY

A “CURIOSITY” STATE THERE ARE NO TAXES. REMARKABLE ’ CHANGES. A.great deal has been said lately about the new Rome, with its “liberated relics of antiquity, its new neighbourhoods and public buildings. The equally remarkable changes which have been made in the Vatican City State have passed - almost unnoticed. The State itself is a curiosity—a sovereign power lying in the heart of the capital of Italy. It is also a State ruled by a single person, the Pope, who has supreme powers within its tiny boundaries. (Its area does not cover much more than the fifth of a square mile, and the number of . its citizens is not far above 500 souls.) This State came into being on February 11, 1929, when Cardinal Gasparri, then Papal Secretary of State, and Signor Mussolini signed the Lateran Agreement, by virtue of which the Vatican was declared to. be a sovereign .power “with absolute and visible independence.” Everybody who steps over the marble strip which has been embedded in the street between St. Peter’s Square and the neighbouring Rusticucci Square passes a frontier. 'True, St.’ Peter’s Square is accessible to the public like any other open space in Rome.- But this is for convenience’ sake. The Italian police are responsible for order in it until such time as the Pope wishes to close it. It has been closed down once since February, 1929, and it took several thousand troops to form suitable barriers round it. Not that there was any disturbance; the Pope went in solemn procession round it and the Italian Government paid him full military honours while at- the same’ time eliminating all danger of unpleasant surprises, says a writer in the “Manchester Guardian.”

Pius XI. has zealously exercised the sovereignty conferred by the agreement. He has his own public services, tribunals, coinage and postage stamps. He has appointed a Governor, who Is responsible to him, and to him alone, for the good order of the State. His exclusion of the cardinals from any participation in the rule of the city caused a stir at the time (June, 1929),' especially., when it became known that citizenship was to be conferred only upon such members of the Sacred College as reside in the Vatican and in Rome, or on those whom the Pope wished to honour. VATICAN’S NEW FACE. Having clearly defined the fact of his sole responsibility in the temporal affairs of his new sovereign State, Pius XI began an build, for internal government meant the need of new houses and offices. And. now, after the lapse of nearly four years, the old Vatican, with its medieval and Renaissance palaces, Has, put on a new face, - with coloured stucco and marble, reinforced concrete, and matter-of-fact blocks ’ of flats Which you can find' in Milan, Berlin, or even New York.' Side by side with the majestic simplicity of Bramante’s, Sangallo’s, and Bernini’s walls and arches stand the dazzling white Governor’s palace, the new picture gallery, 'the electric power and broadcasting stations, the' new entrance for tourists, and the gigantic aerial; put up under the personal supervision of Senator Marconi. And it is sad to think that, in the Roman climate, these, things will not mellow for generations.

The broadcasting station is said to be the most modern in the world; the new water reservoir will make the Vatican independent of Roman water supplies for many weeks, in case of need. The new entrance for vjsitors to the museums and picture galleries excludes them frofh wandering l about the city at will. Apd from the .first of January, 1933, all whq are not Vatican citizens must show passports or similar papers of identifications before they will be admitted to the city by the other gates. Thus another new frontier arises in Europe, and the Swiss Guards, who still do sentry-go clad in those picturesque red, yellow, and blue uniforms, will challenge every visitor. Gone are the days when the mention of a monsignor who worked in the Vatican was enough to open the way through those silent, weathered -courts and stately loggias. THE RAILWAY STATION. The railway station is in keeping with the dimensions of the city. The. line runs only about 1640 feet before , joining the Italian State Railway at St. Peter’s Station on the main line between Rome and Viterbo; the estimated cost of between twenty and thirty million liras, or £200,000 to £300,000 at gold rates, appears excessive. But the safeguarding of privacy for passengers to and from the Vatican entailed. the building of a bridge, tunnel, and boundary wall, - with iron gates which are to be opened only on those rare occasions when trains enter or leave the Vatican. They will carry, passengers only and be used exclusively by the Pope’s distinguished’ guests or by himself. All citizens and supplies will - continue to enter by the 'roads leading out of St. Peter’s Square, which are closed and sentinelled by , the Swiss, Guards. The new entrance to the museums is from the Piazza del Rigorgimento, one of Rome’s modern, squares, and bv shaft, very much like the one at Orvieto. Two helical stairways are bulit inside it, one for people gqing in and the other for those who are leaving tire museums. A. post office, where visitors can send off letterrs with the City stamps and. postmark, adds to the general interest.; ■ ' ’ AN ADDITION. One of the latest additions to the modern comforts which have been put in the Vatican is the new lift destined for the exclusive use of the Pope. It will convey him from the upper floors Of his palace into St. Peter’s. Hitherto he has had to use the handsome but tiring Royal Staircase, one of the sights of . the building. The new lift is being built in the. sacristy of the chapel of St. Paul, in the papal palace. When finished it will run straight down into one of the side chapels in St. Peter’s. When the Pope has left the lift it and the steel shaft are to vanish through the ceiling and back to the sacristy. The ceiling has been reconstructed in such a way that, except when the lift is actually in use, it looks as it has done for centuries. An electric contrivance enables part of it to slide backward and forward.

There are no taxes in the Vatican State. Food is cheaper than “over the border,” and so are tobacco products. Citizens are not supposed to buy more than twenty cigarettes a day, and outsiders cannot make any purchases'within its walls;