Eleven Days of February (Pius XI)

Desio, eighteen fifty-seven, May the thirty-first, A scholar with his glasses and his books, February sixth, nineteen twenty-two, Sixty-four years old when the white smoke rose. For half a century, the Pope and the State Had stood on opposite sides of a wall, The "Roman Question" hung over every door, And nobody knew how to settle it all. Sign it, sign it, make it a nation! A little square mile with a big declaration, No crown, no empire, no army to fight, Just a flag and a faith and a place to stand right! Sign it, sign it, let the old war end, The Pope and the Kingdom, finally friends, Vatican City, a tiny land and free, The smallest of nations for the world to see! February eleventh, nineteen twenty-nine, In the Lateran Palace, the pens were raised, Mussolini's government and the Holy See, After years of talks, they closed the case. Vatican City, a sovereign state, Recognized by treaty, by the end of spring, June the seventh, the papers took effect, The bells rang out for a brand-new thing. Sign it, sign it, make it a nation! A little square mile with a big declaration, No crown, no empire, no army to fight, Just a flag and a faith and a place to stand right! Sign it, sign it, let the old war end, The Pope and the Kingdom, finally friends, Vatican City, a tiny land and free, The smallest of nations for the world to see! But the shadows were growing across the land, Fascism on the march, Nazism at the door, Communism preached a world without God, And the Church stood watching the gathering storm. I spoke up for the freedom of conscience, For the mission that no state can own, Not every voice was loud enough, But the keys were mine to keep, and I stood alone. Seventeen years upon the throne, Nineteen thirty-nine, the winter's end, February tenth, my heart gave out, Eighty-one years, and the world on the brink. The first Pope of a state with a flag in the wind, After a thousand years of a lost domain, The keys were passed, the doors stayed open, And the story of Peter went on again. Sign it, sign it, make it a nation! A little square mile with a big declaration, No crown, no empire, no army to fight, Just a flag and a faith and a place to stand right! Sign it, sign it, let the old war end, The Pope and the Kingdom, finally friends, Vatican City, a tiny land and free, The smallest of nations for the world to see! A small land, a great faith... A small land, a great faith... The keys are home.