Father James Martin: ‘The Vatican Is Not a Walled City’

ROME — Jesuit Father James Martin has struck back at the “internet,” launching the disingenuous and counter-factual claim the Vatican “is not a walled city.”

Father Martin, a gay rights activist, was responding to critics who have pointed out the obvious irony involved in Pope Francis’ harsh criticisms against U.S. immigration policy while the Vatican itself is the only walled sovereign territory in the world.

The massive, 40-foot-high walls surrounding Vatican City State were built by Pope Leo IV, after Islamic Saracen troops sacked Old St. Peter’s Basilica in 846 AD.

The original wall encompassed the entire Vatican hill, surrounding what came to be known as the Leonine City, but was later reduced to circumscribe the 110-acre Vatican City that exists today.

The current walls span a full 2 miles in length, completely surrounding the territory. Saint Peter’s Square and Basilica are technically on Vatican territory and are open to the public but moving beyond the square or the basilica into the interior of the Vatican involves passing check points manned by armed Swiss Guards.

The extent of the Vatican walls can be grasped from this accurate visual from WorldAtlas.com:

Father Martin’s ill-advised foray into Vatican topography sought to counter a barrage of criticism aimed at the pope’s equally ill-advised letter to the American bishops on the question of U.S. immigration policy and Vice President J.D. Vance’s defense of it using the Catholic principle of ordo amoris (the order of love).

In that letter, the pontiff stated that any rightly formed conscience can see the error of identifying “the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.”

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