Prisoner in the Vatican the Basilica of St. John Lateran, situated on the opposite side of the city of Rome, and to travel regularly to their summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, from Rome. Prisoner in the Vatican A prisoner in the Vatican or prisoner of the Vatican (; ) is how Pope Pius IX was described following the capture of Rome by the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy on 20 September 1870. Part of the process of Italian unification, the city's capture ended the millennial temporal rule of the popes over central Italy and allowed Rome to be designated the capital of
The Party's Over (Smoking Popes album) The Party's Over (Smoking Popes album) The Party's Over is the fourth album by pop rock group the Smoking Popes. It is a collection of ten cover tunes that was recorded in 1998 as a perfunctory effort to fulfill the Popes' part of their recording contract with Capitol Records. The album was rejected by the label, and the band was released from their contract as they had hoped. The album was released five years later (in 2003) by Double Zero Records. The album received a lukewarm review by Tim DiGravina on AllMusic. Gravina posed the question of whether the album