Vatican City Timeline

Spain's leader wanted to reunify the country after a long period of turmoil. It was believed that the best way to do this was to force any non-Catholic citizens to either convert to Catholicism or leave the country. This interrogation was permitted by Pope Sixtus IV and the inquisition is responsible for over 2,000 deaths.

St. Peter's Basilica is the largest church in the world. The name Peter translates to stone or rock in Greek and Spanish, and is also the literal translation of the Aramaic "Kepa", the name given to Simon; one of Jesus's followers by Jesus. Peter's remains were buried in Vatican.

Michelangelo was asked by Pope Julius II to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel which was named after Pope Sixtus IV after he helped to restore it in the late 1470's. Michelangelo's ceiling shows nine stories from the book of Genesis.

Martin Luther was ostracized from the Catholic Church by Pope Leo X after publishing a book called "95 Theses" which highlighted flaws in the practices of the Church. Within his book there was mention of corruption in the Church and that Jews were bad, despite Christianity being founded on Judaism.

Pope Clement IIX refused the King's request to get an annulment. The reason for the annulment was so that Henry could marry his mistress, Anne Boleyn. Anne, despite the close to no evidence was arrested for adultery and incest after not being able to have King Henry's child. Henry later got engaged to another mistress and ended up having a total of six marriages, yet only one son that could inherit the throne.

Pope Urban VIII interrogated and arrested Galileo because of his support of Astronomy meaning that his believes didn't align with the Church. The Church saw the idea that the Earth might not be the centre of the universe as a threat. 539 years after the incident the Church finally admitted they were wrong.

After barely putting up a fight against Italy, the country fell. Pope Pius IX fled to St. Peter's Basilica and recalcitrantly stayed there, continuously denying Italy's presence. The King of Italy at the time, in attempt to avoid a religious war, left the Pope a "prisoner" within the walls of the city, hoping that the Pope would give up on being stubborn. However, the situation hasn't changed to this day.

Pope Pius XI became the sovereignty of the Holy see, which is Latin for Holy chair, by signing the Lateran Treaty. This meant that the Pope gave up his Papal States and instead became the leader of the smallest country in the world; Vatican City.

Vatican City's independence is recognised by 38 other countries.

Pope Pius XII attempted to maintain peace in the weeks leading up to the official start of WWII. However, despite wanting to stay uninvolved and impartial in the situation, he showed clear objections to the Nazi's genocidal tactics. Despite Vatican City's neutral position in the war, it did get bombed twice in 1943 and 1944 due to its location within Rome.