ABSTRACT
Archaeological remains found within the territories belonging to the Vatican are currently protected through a law created by the Papal Commission for the State of the Vatican City (Law no. 355, issued on 25 July 2001). Such legislation was conceived to guarantee the integrity and conservation of the heritage pertaining to the Vatican state and to its extraterritorial areas, as established by the Lateran Pacts (Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 1929). Although human remains are not mentioned, the present law includes all objects characterized by an artistic, historical, archaeological or ethnographic interest, and the relative regulation for temporary exportation. It is worth noting Article 33 of the original 1929 Lateran Concordat – revised in 1984 (see Article 12.2) – according to which the Holy See keeps control of the Christian Catacombs in Rome and the rest of Italy, thus maintaining the right to carry out excavations and transfer holy bodies.
