Evening Star Newspaper, April 6, 1930, Page 94

4 e E == THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, APRIL 6 1930, Explaming the New Vatican Kingdom .¥¢4.s-a 3 i, s | Vatican boundaries . . . are shown in this air photo, which also indicates with a dotted line the square of St. Peter, part of the new state, but always open to the public, No Bigger Than a Golf Course, With Four Hundred and Fifty Subjects and an Army, the Papal State Is Planning a Radio Station and Airport on Vatican Hill. Governor of the new Vatican City, Ca- millo Serafini, shown in the new cos- tume created for the new post. BY BENIAMINO DE RITIS. (Distinguished Italian journalist, specialist on Vatican news for the Giornale & Italia, edi- ial writer for the Corriere D’America and director of the Iwlian Literary Service in New York. OU enter the territory of the new always open to the public, according to a special 3 i g ! % E E § QLIRS 5-55;;%559&5%?3:5 LIRS ok E§§§§§E§5g el gégé‘ség o T A LR E'gsgggi g '§: § S H W 28 3 & i %s gRE § 3 i e Eiggag LTI Eekais Boited el 1L EFefed However, the exercise of the activities prop- er to an independent state has necessitated eertain amounts of reconstruction and altera- tion within the Vatican City. Town planning work is under way, and when we reach the apse of St. Peter's and enter the Vialone del Belvedere, between the Apostolic Palace and its gardens, we have the impression that the city, notwithstanding its small size, which covers 103 acres, is enjoying a real building The town planning scheme includes the con- and with the outer world. by the Lateran treaty signed February 11, 1929, by Premier Musso- lini and Cardinal Gasparri. The extent of the City, which includes the apostolic palaces and the surrounding grounds and gar- dens, is large enough for operation of all the services which are considered by the Pope the expression and the guaranty of his visible sovereignty. So the Vatican is at the same time both the oldest and newest state in Europe and links the human and the divine, the old centuries’ customs and traditions with the modern achievements of our machine age. This is the meeting place of all centuries. When an avia- tion fleld is established on the summit of the Vatican Hill, this air-minded age will have penetrated to the very heart of the oldest in- stitution of the Christian world. 'EW citizens are legal subjects of the Pope, who, nevertheless, reckons his spiritual sub- jects in hundreds of millions over. all the world. The pontifical citizenship has been limited to the cardinals resident in the Vati- can City or in Rome, and to any others having fixed residence therein for reason of dignity, charge, office or employment. They number al- together 450, and represent the personnel of Tangible evidence of papal material sovereignty. First letters being mailed in @ y i post box of the new state. Prince Don Alessandro Ruspoli, Grand Master of the Sacro Opizio, wears the uniform of members of the Pope’s household. that immense secretarial machinery which we _ call the Vatican, but which correctly should be called the Curia. The Curia includes the Papal Court and the all the officers and functions concerned with the current affairs of the Catholic world, including the cardinals resie dent in Rome, each of whom sees the Pope once a week. The center of the Curia is the Apostolic Palace—that immense pile of build- ings covering an area of 13!, acres, of which six acres are occupied by the interior courts, while the rooms, halls and chapels number a thousand, The Pope and the Pontifical Court occupy but a small part of the whole, the rest being given up to the library, the museums and the art collections which are so rich with historie cal treasures that they are immeasurably bee yond the purse of even the wealthiest Amerie can millionaires. When we arrive in the famous courtyard of San Damaso, which is surrounded with the Loggia of Raffaello, we see the glorious ene trance of the palace where the Pope resides and carries on the general government of church. The papal apartment is on the third floor, but only a small portion of it is ever seen by the public except those admitted for special audiences. It is administered by the maestro di camera (master of chamber), who arranges audiences and supervises receptions, AROUND the papal apartment and the Vatie can hails several dozen dignitaries, “mone signori,” chamberlains, prelates, noble guards; move in all sorts of positions. Their titles of honor, their specific duties and their pice turesque uniforms are survivals of ancient time representing the court of a monarch. The Pope is surrounded by what is termed his family (familia) and by a religious ese tablishment the members of which form his chapel (capella). The pontifical family repre= sents the Pope’s civil court, the highest positions of which are, according to privilege and tradie tion, handed down through the centuries, given to the heirs of the oldest Roman families of nobility. The heads of the Colonna and Orsini are by right the two princes assisting the Pope at the throne. The Colonna and Orsini famie ly are second only to the Caetani in antiquity, and first of all Roman patricians. They were often at war among themselves in the Middle Ages. leading different faction in Rome. Thelr fortunes went many times during the cens Continued on Thirteenth Page