Portal:Vatican City

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Welcome to the Vatican City Portal

Vatican City (/ˈvætɪkən/ ^ⓘ), officially the Vatican City State (Italian: Stato della Città del Vaticano; Latin: Status Civitatis Vaticanae), is a landlocked sovereign country, city-state, microstate, and enclave within Rome, Italy. It became independent from Italy in 1929 with the Lateran Treaty, and it is a distinct territory under "full ownership, exclusive dominion, and sovereign authority and jurisdiction" of the Holy See, itself a sovereign entity under international law, which maintains the city-state's temporal power and governance, diplomatic, and spiritual independence. The Vatican is also a metonym for the pope, the city-state's and worldwide Catholic Church government Holy See, and Roman Curia.

With an area of 49 hectares (121 acres) and as of 2023 a population of about 764, it is the smallest state in the world both by area and by population. As governed by the Holy See, Vatican City State is an ecclesiastical or sacerdotal-monarchical state ruled by the Pope, who is the bishop of Rome and head of the Catholic Church. The highest state functionaries are all Catholic clergy of various origins. After the Avignon Papacy (1309–1377) the popes have mainly resided at the Apostolic Palace within what is now Vatican City, although at times residing instead in the Quirinal Palace in Rome or elsewhere. (Full article...)

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The state of Vatican City has established no official language by law. However, in accordance with paragraph 2 of the Legge sulle fonti del diritto of 7 June 1929, it promulgates its laws and regulations by publishing them in the Italian-language Supplemento per le leggi e disposizioni dello Stato della Città del Vaticano attached to the Acta Apostolicae Sedis.^[1]

On its official website Vatican City uses Italian, English, French, German, and Spanish, but not Latin or Portuguese, which are found on the official website of the Holy See.

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Via della Conciliazione (Road of the Conciliation^[2]) is a street in the Rione of Borgo within Rome, Italy.

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The following are images from various Vatican City-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1The Vatican City came into existence in 1929, a decade before the start of World War II (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 2Part of the Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 3Armenian cross monument (Khatchkar) inside the Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 4Pasta is popular in the Vatican, being one of Pope Francis' favorite dishes. (from Culture of Vatican City)
Image 5A monument to Fr. Maximilian Kolbe, among the estimated 3,000 members (18%) of the Polish clergy who were killed by the Nazis; of these, 1,992 died in concentration camps. (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 6Polish ambassador to the Vatican, Kazimierz Papée, was critical of Pius XII's pre-war mediation efforts. (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 7Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 8Palace of the Governorate of Vatican City State (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 9Map of Vatican City (from Geography of Vatican City)
Image 10The Fountain of the Eagle "Fontana dell'Aquilone" in the Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 11Bernardino Nogara, the chief Vatican financier during the war (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 12A souvenir shop on the roof of St. Peter's Basilica (from Economy of Vatican City)
Image 13A view of the Gardens of Vatican City (from Geography of Vatican City)
Image 14The crowds of tourists in St. Peter's Square are a target for pickpockets. (from Crime in Vatican City)
Image 15Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 16Empress Saint Helena of Constantinople carrying the One True Cross laying the grounds for the gardens using the sacred soil from Mount Calvary. (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 17The Little Flower, Saint Therese of Lisieux is the official Patroness of the gardens. (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 18Enlargeable, detailed map of Vatican City (from Geography of Vatican City)
Image 19An ATM in Vatican City with Latin instructions (from Economy of Vatican City)
Image 20Cesare Orsenigo (left, with Hitler and Ribbentrop), nuncio to Germany, also served as de facto nuncio to Poland. (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 21Members of the Canadian Royal 22nd Regiment in audience with Pope Pius XII, following the 1944 Liberation of Rome. (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 22President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama meet with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on July 10, 2009. (from Women in Vatican City)

Did you know?

... that some Catholics considered Tom Lehrer's "The Vatican Rag" (audio featured) to be blasphemous?
... that the final silent film directed by Giulia Cassini Rizzotto was partly funded by the Vatican and featured Italian aristocrats?
... that a Vatican Hebrew manuscript has been used as a source for analysing and emending modern editions of the Palestinian Talmud?
... that the Vatican selected Mary Milligan in 1987 to be one of only three U.S. experts to assist the International Synod of Bishops on the Laity in Rome?
... that the Second Vatican Council tried to undo the latinization of Eastern Catholic liturgy?
... that Sans's boss theme, "Megalovania", was played at the Vatican as part of a circus act during an audience with Pope Francis?

... that Bishop Aloisius Muench, the liaison between the Vatican and the U.S. post-war occupation authority in Germany, referred to the latter as "other Hitlers in disguise"?

...that Pope Pius XII's retention of Cesare Orsenigo (pictured left, with Hitler and von Ribbentrop) as Apostolic Nuncio to Germany is a "chief point of criticism" of his response to the Holocaust?

...that capital punishment in the Vatican City was legal (but not carried out) between 1929 and 1969?

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Vatican City

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Vatican Palace: the gardens from the museum.

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External Resources

Homepage of The Vatican

Sources

^ The text of the first seven items published in that supplement is given here.
^ The name finally settled upon for the project was chosen by journalist Franco Franchi after World War II; Delli, Sergio (1975). Le strade di Roma. Rome: Newton & Compton. p. sub vocem.

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[1] The text of the first seven items published in that supplement is given here.

[2] The name finally settled upon for the project was chosen by journalist Franco Franchi after World War II; Delli, Sergio (1975). Le strade di Roma. Rome: Newton & Compton. p. sub vocem.

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