In OTL, when the Italians took Rome from the Pope, they offered to let the Pope keep an area around St. Peter's for himself as his own sovereign state. They area they offered was the Leonine City, an area much larger and somewhat more populated than the current Vatican City is today. If memory serves the area had a population in the thousands and, when the Pope refused to negotiate with the Italians, voted almost unanimously to join Italy with the rest of Rome.
But what if the Pope had a different view towards the Italians, or more likely, the Italians just gave the Leonine City to the Pope without asking?
My personal take is that in the great scheme of things, not much would have necessarily changed. Before any alt-Lateran Treaty is signed, the Pope having a population might have increased the strain between him and Italy, but honestly I think that most of them would have either stayed as Good Catholics or simply moved a few blocks over. The net result of that would be that the Vatican is larger today and might house much of its workforce.
Alternatively, the populace may have stayed. Would they have created problems for the Pope, as even a devoutly Catholic population (which there is no guarantee that they would have been) would probably want a liberal democracy of some sort by the present day. Ignoring butterflies, how would John Paul II or even Benedict XVI have dealt with demands for democratic reform? How would any Pope have handled garbage collection and a public health system?
Or would there have been pressure for Italy to expand into the Vatican, ending even illusory sovereignty for the Pope?
But what if the Pope had a different view towards the Italians, or more likely, the Italians just gave the Leonine City to the Pope without asking?
My personal take is that in the great scheme of things, not much would have necessarily changed. Before any alt-Lateran Treaty is signed, the Pope having a population might have increased the strain between him and Italy, but honestly I think that most of them would have either stayed as Good Catholics or simply moved a few blocks over. The net result of that would be that the Vatican is larger today and might house much of its workforce.
Alternatively, the populace may have stayed. Would they have created problems for the Pope, as even a devoutly Catholic population (which there is no guarantee that they would have been) would probably want a liberal democracy of some sort by the present day. Ignoring butterflies, how would John Paul II or even Benedict XVI have dealt with demands for democratic reform? How would any Pope have handled garbage collection and a public health system?
Or would there have been pressure for Italy to expand into the Vatican, ending even illusory sovereignty for the Pope?