How, and when, did the Vatican City become a separate state?

star_gazer

The state came into existence by virtue of the Lateran Treaty in 1929, which spoke of it as a new creation (Preamble and Article III), and not as a vestige of the much larger Papal States (756 to 1870) that had previously encompassed central Italy. Of which, most were absorbed into the Kingdom of Italy in 1860, and the city of Rome with a small area close to it, ten years later in 1870. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_City Dec 30 07, 6:34 AM