Vatican Radio

Established in 1931, Vatican Radio (VR) is one of the world's oldest international broadcasting services. Its birth can be traced back to the Lateran Treaty , signed in 1929 by Benito Mussolini and the secretary of the Vatican State, Cardinal Gasparri. Aimed at resolving 59 years of tense relationships between the kingdom of Italy and the Holy See, the treaty was intended to compensate the Holy See for what it had lost when Rome, previously under the control of the pontiff, was annexed to the Italian kingdom in 1870. In addition to establishing the Vatican's own borders, jurisdiction, currency, and even stamps, the treaty made it Italy's responsibility to ensure the “necessary link, directly also with other States, of the [Vatican's] telegraph, telephone, and radio and postal services,” thereby paving the way for the Vatican to establish its own broadcast media. As a further endorsement of the legitimacy of the pontiff's previous control over Rome, Mussolini agreed to pay more than one billion Italian lira in compensation. This was of great ideological significance: the dictator would now be able to count upon the Catholic elites, who welcomed his generosity and the new “harmony” established between the Italian state and the Vatican. For the then pope, Pius XI, Mussolini was the “man of Providence.”