The Value of Contracts in a Long-Term Context—An Example Based on the Lateran Treaty and the Concordat of 1984

This chapter describes the genesis, scope and content of the Lateran Treaty (1929) and its revision (1984), showing that this international deal became a “win-win” and durable long-term agreement (LTA) in which the Italian State and the Holy See of Rome composed, starting from different perspectives, both juridical and economical questions: those matters concerned not only the Catholic’s condition in a modern context but also the mutual relationships among two different, and autonomous, states established at different layers in one territory. The Lateran Treaty settled almost 50 years of debating the “Questione Romana”, arisen since the end of Papal States in 1870, giving shape to a modern weltanschauung described as “Libero Stato in libera Chiesa”, meaning “freedom for both states”; this innovative approach survived not only when Italy became a modern Republic in 1947 but, as well afterwards, facing today’s society debates like wedding and divorce, fiscal exemptions for religion’s purposes through the 1984 revision, it lasts until today. Lots of experience can be achieved by analysing this agreement in a long-term context, not only for understanding the art of negotiation in the religion’s field, and the unique position, in a worldwide context, of the city of Rome, but also for individual entities aiming at developing durable and strong relationships, e.g. in, but not limited to, government-to-government (G2G) sector. Thus, also aiming at understanding that, at that time, the millennial Papal States had surely more power than the young Italian State.