section_path: History/Post-war history
section_name: Post-war history
paragraph_text: Post-war history
  
  Pius XII refrained from creating cardinals during the war. By the end of World War II, there were several prominent vacancies: Cardinal Secretary of State, Camerlengo, Chancellor, and Prefect for the Congregation for the Religious among them. Pius XII created 32 cardinals in early 1946, having announced his intention to do so in his preceding Christmas message.
  
  In 1970 the Pontifical Military Corps, except for the Swiss Guard, was disbanded by Paul VI. The Gendarmerie Corps was transformed into a civilian police and security force.
  
  In 1984 a new concordat between the Holy See and Italy modified provisions of the earlier treaty, including the position of Catholic Christianity as the Italian state religion, a position given to it by a statute of the Kingdom of Sardinia of 1848.
  
  In 1995 construction of a new guest house, Domus Sanctae Marthae, adjacent to St Peter's Basilica was criticized by Italian environmental groups, backed by Italian politicians. They claimed the new building would block views of the Basilica from nearby Italian apartments. For a short while the plans strained the relations between the Vatican and the Italian government. The head of the Vatican's Department of Technical Services robustly rejected challenges to the Vatican State's right to build within its borders.
  
  In 2015 John R. Morss wrote in the European Journal of International Law that due to the terms of the Lateran Treaty, Vatican City's status as a sovereign state, and the Pope 's status as a head of state, are problematic.