Anniversary Issues for the Signing of the Lateran Pacts:
50th Anniversary (1979)

For the Fiftieth Anniversary of the signing of the Lateran Pacts, Vatican City issued a full array of philatelic material to celebrate the “golden anniversary” of the establishment of the Vatican City State. STAMPS: On October 11, 1979, a set of seven stamps were issued for the anniversary. The stamps each depicted one of the six popes (along with his coat of arms) who reigned during the first fifty years of the Vatican, as well as a stamp showing an aerial view of Vatican City: 50th Anniversary of the Signing of the Lateran Pact Scott 657-663 (1979): Aerial View of Vatican City Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XII Pope John XXIII Pope Paul VI Pope John Paul I Pope John Paul II AEROGRAMME: The design/cachet on annual aerogramme for 1979 shows another aerial view of the Vatican, with an olive branch along the right border of the image. The postal indicia displays the papal coat of arms. The aerogramme was issued on May 29, 1979: 50th Anniversary of the Signing of the Lateran Pact Aerogramme of 1979 POSTAL CARDS: The Vatican City postal cards, issued on November 12, 1979, also celebrated the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Vatican City State. The cover image, shown below, pictures the dome of Saint Peter’s Basilica, and announces the “50th Anniversary of the Constitution of the State of Vatican City”: 50th Anniversary of the Signing of the Lateran Pact Postal Cards of 1979 (cover) REFERENCE: Vatican Philatelic Society website, www.vaticanstamps.org, Stamp Database Search