The decline of the Lateran Palace began with what is known as the “Avignon Captivity”, the attempt of the Kingdom of France to subjugate the pope and his Curia to itself and the subsequent transfer of the popes to Avignon – of which the suppression of the Templars is one of the first signs, which the papacy of the early fourteenth century could not oppose with sufficient force.
After returning from Avignon, the papal residence increasingly moved to Saint Peter's Basilica, and the Lateran fell into a state of gradual deterioration.
The rebuilding of the Lateran Palace by Sixtus V, which was ultimately more symbolic than effective, was to no avail: in the centuries that followed, the Lateran Palace had various uses, but none permanent. It was the popes of Vatican Council II who perceived that it was good to differentiate the two organisms, one in support of the entire world and the other at the service of Rome.
Therefore, today the Pope has two Curias: the Vatican, for the entire world, and the Lateran, in his service for the city of Rome.
It was John XXIII who first affirmed: “Oh! If the Pope, bishop of Rome, could bring together all the diocesan administration at this cathedral of his, could gather here, with greater breadth, the whole organization of the Diocese of Rome!”.
Paul VI, insisting on the role of the pope as bishop of Rome and reorganizing the life of the Vicariate at the Lateran, brought this insight into effect in 1977.
In an address in 1975 at the Lateran, recalled the state of desolation of the Lateran, and his dream that was taking shape: “I remember that the first time I came to Rome (I was eight and a half years old) there was an excursion up to Saint John Lateran; I still remember very well the sense of desolation that surprised me in that great house, gloomy, closed, abandoned all around. And they told me: this is mater et caput. I remember all the times that, as a young student, I had occasion to pass in front of that building, beautiful but decaying: you could see it from the windows and closed doors, from the impossibility of entering. And children and the young always dream: from here we must revive the Roman Church”.
Increasingly, with the successive pontificates and vicars, the Lateran has taken shape in its new dimension of service to Rome: just as the pontiff’s love for the entire world is made manifest in the Vatican Curia, so his love for the diocese is expressed in the work of the Lateran Offices which support the vicar in this mission.
Thus, the basilica and the adjoining buildings have rediscovered their original meaning, and their function is now clearly legible to those who go there on pilgrimage and find it a living and welcoming place, an expressive sign of the entire Roman community.
