Editing Vatican City (section)

=== Post-war history ===
[[File:St Peter's Square, Vatican City - April 2007.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|A view of St. Peter's Square from the top of Michelangelo's dome]]

Pius XII refrained from creating [[cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinals]] during the war. By the end of World War II, there were several prominent vacancies: [[Cardinal Secretary of State]], [[Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church|Camerlengo]], [[Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church|Chancellor]], and Prefect for the [[Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life|Congregation for the Religious]] among them.{{Sfn|Chadwick|1988|p=304}} Pius XII [[Cardinals created by Pope Pius XII in 1946|created 32 cardinals in early 1946]], having announced his intention to do so in his preceding Christmas message.

In 1970 the [[Military in Vatican City|Pontifical Military Corps]], except for the [[Swiss Guard]], was disbanded by [[Pope Paul VI|Paul VI]].<ref name="Vatican State" /> The [[Corps of Gendarmerie of Vatican City|Gendarmerie Corps]] was transformed into a civilian police and security force.

In 1984 a new [[concordat]] between the Holy See and Italy modified provisions of the earlier treaty, including the position of Catholic Christianity as the Italian state religion, a position given to it by a statute of the [[Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861)|Kingdom of Sardinia]] of 1848.<ref name="Statute" />

In 1995 construction of a new guest house, [[Domus Sanctae Marthae]], adjacent to [[St. Peter's Basilica|St Peter's Basilica]] was criticized by Italian environmental groups, backed by Italian politicians. They claimed the new building would block views of the Basilica from nearby Italian apartments.<ref name="guest house">{{Cite book |last=Thavis |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/vaticandiariesbe0000thav |title=The Vatican Diaries: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Power, Personalities and Politics at the Heart of the Catholic Church |publisher=Viking |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-670-02671-5 |location=NY |pages=[https://archive.org/details/vaticandiariesbe0000thav/page/121 121–122] |url-access=registration}}</ref> For a short while the plans strained the relations between the Vatican and the Italian government. The head of the Vatican's Department of Technical Services robustly rejected challenges to the Vatican State's right to build within its borders.<ref name="guest house" />

In 2015 John R. Morss wrote in the ''[[European Journal of International Law]]'' that due to the terms of the Lateran Treaty, Vatican City's status as a sovereign state, and the [[Pope Francis|Pope]]'s status as a head of state, are problematic.{{clarify|date=February 2023}}<ref name="Morss-2015">{{Cite journal |last=Morss |first=John R. |date=November 2015 |title=The International Legal Status of the Vatican/Holy See Complex |url=https://academic.oup.com/ejil/article/26/4/927/2599610 |url-status=live |journal=European Journal of International Law |publisher=OUP |volume=26 |issue=4 |page=927 |doi=10.1093/ejil/chv062 |issn=0938-5428 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122174103/https://academic.oup.com/ejil/article/26/4/927/2599610 |archive-date=22 January 2021 |access-date=6 February 2021 |doi-access=free |hdl-access=free |hdl=10536/DRO/DU:30081648}}</ref>