Editing Vatican City (section)

=== Papal States ===
{{Main|Papal States}}
{{See also|History of the Papacy}}

[[File:Italy 1796.svg|thumb|upright|The Italian peninsula in 1796. The Papal States in central Italy are coloured purple.]]

Popes gradually came to have a secular role as governors of regions near Rome. They ruled the [[Papal States]], which covered a large portion of the [[Italian peninsula]], for more than a thousand years until the mid-19th century, when all the territory belonging to the papacy was seized by the [[Italian unification|newly created]] [[Kingdom of Italy]].

For most of this time, the popes did not live at the Vatican. The [[Lateran Palace]], on the opposite side of Rome, was their habitual residence for about a thousand years. From 1309 to 1377, they lived in [[Avignon]] in France. On their return to Rome, they chose to live at the Vatican. They moved to the [[Quirinal Palace]] in 1583, after work on it was completed under [[Pope Paul V]] (1605–1621). In 1870, after the [[capture of Rome]], popes have lived in the Vatican. Their prior residence at the Quirinal Palace was taken over by the [[King of Italy]].