Portal:Vatican City

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

With an area of 49 hectares (121 acres) and a population of about 882 (as of 2024), it is the smallest sovereign state in the world both by area and by population. It is also among the least populated capitals in the world. 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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Map of the Papal States (green) in 1700 (around its greatest extent), including its exclaves of Benevento and Pontecorvo in Southern Italy, and the Comtat Venaissin and Avignon in Southern France.

The Papal State(s), the State(s) of the Church, the Pontifical States, the Ecclesiastical States, or the Roman States (Italian: Stato Pontificio, also Stato della Chiesa, Stati della Chiesa, Stati Pontifici, and Stato Ecclesiastico; Latin: Status Pontificius, also Dicio Pontificia)^[1] were among the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian Peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia (after which the Papal States, in less territorially extensive form, continued to exist until 1870).

The Papal States comprised territories under direct sovereign rule of the papacy, and at its height it covered most of the modern Italian regions of Romagna, Marche, Umbria and Lazio. This governing power is commonly called the temporal power of the Pope, as opposed to his ecclesiastical primacy.

The plural Papal States is usually preferred; the singular Papal State (equally correct since it was not a mere personal union) tends to be used (normally with lower-case letters) for the modern State of Vatican City, an enclave within Italy's national capital, Rome. The Vatican City was founded in 1929, again allowing the Holy See the political benefits of territorial sovereignty.

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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 1Territory of Vatican City State according to the Lateran Treaty (from Vatican City)
Image 2Pope Francis in Vatican City, 2021 (from Vatican City)
Image 3Palace of the Governorate of Vatican City State (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 4Gendarmerie car (from Vatican City)
Image 5Armenian cross monument (Khatchkar) inside the Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 6Bernardino Nogara, the chief Vatican financier during the war (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 7A guard of the Vatican at his sentry box (from Vatican City)
Image 8The crowds of tourists in St. Peter's Square are a target for pickpockets. (from Vatican City)
Image 9Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 10The Vatican City came into existence in 1929, a decade before the start of World War II (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 11St. Peter's Basilica is one of the most renowned works of Renaissance architecture. (from Vatican City)
Image 12Palace of the Governorate of Vatican City State (from Vatican City)
Image 13Pope Pius XI decree and conferment of Saint Therese of France to be Patroness of the gardens, flanked by Cardinal Louis Billot. The Leonine walls, 17 May 1927. (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 14Members 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 15The Apostolic Palace (Palazzo Apostolico), the official residence of the Pope. Here, Benedict XVI is at the window marked by a maroon banner hanging from the windowsill at centre. (from Vatican City)
Image 16Map of Vatican City (from Geography of Vatican City)
Image 17A view of the Gardens of Vatican City (from Geography of Vatican City)
Image 18An early interpretation of the relative locations of the circus, and the medieval and current Basilicas of St. Peter (from Vatican City)
Image 19Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 20The Fountain of the Eagle "Fontana dell'Aquilone" in the Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 21Part of the Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
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)
Image 23Image of the United Nations member state borders on a map (from Vatican City)
Image 24Pay phone in the Vatican City (from Vatican City)
Image 25The Seal of Vatican City. Note the use of the Italian language. (from Vatican City)
Image 26Cesare 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 27Polish ambassador to the Vatican, Kazimierz Papée, was critical of Pius XII's pre-war mediation efforts. (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 28The crowds of tourists in St. Peter's Square are a target for pickpockets. (from Crime in Vatican City)
Image 29The Vatican's post office was established on 11 February 1929. (from Vatican City)
Image 30Empress 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 31The Vatican obelisk in St. Peter's Square was brought to Rome from Egypt by Caligula. (from Vatican City)
Image 32The Italian peninsula in 1796. The Papal States in central Italy are coloured purple. (from Vatican City)
Image 33The Ingresso di Sant'Anna, an entrance to Vatican City from Italy (from Vatican City)
Image 34View of St. Peter's Square from the top of Michelangelo's dome (from Vatican City)
Image 35Musicians of the British Army's 38th (Irish) Brigade playing in front of St. Peter's Basilica in June 1944 (from Vatican City)
Image 36Map of Vatican City, highlighting notable buildings and the Vatican gardens (from Vatican City)
Image 37Enlargeable, detailed map of Vatican City (from Geography of Vatican City)
Image 38An ATM in Vatican City with Latin instructions (from Economy of Vatican City)
Image 39One possible modern interpretation (from Vatican City)
Image 40A 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 41The shortest national railway system in the world (from Vatican City)
Image 42A souvenir shop on the roof of St. Peter's Basilica (from Economy of Vatican City)
Image 43Vatican Museums' "New Wing", built by Raffaele Stern (1774–1820) (from Vatican City)

Did you know?

... that the Second Vatican Council tried to undo the latinization of Eastern Catholic liturgy?
... that Karl Malte von Heinz designed the Vatican, Pakistani, Yugoslav and Thai diplomatic missions in India?
... that sport in Vatican City has included cricket, calcio fiorentino, and taekwondo?
... 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 some Catholics considered Tom Lehrer's "The Vatican Rag" (audio featured) to be blasphemous?
... that one incident in Vatican City caused it to have the highest murder rate in the world in 1998?

...that Cædwalla of Wessex conquered southeast England during his brief 7th century reign?

...that Clemente Micara was the Vatican’s first envoy to Czechoslovakia?

...that the 22 Bodmer Papyri from a fifth-century Egyptian monastic library near Nag Hammadi contain three plays by Menander and fragments of the Iliad, as well as early versions of the Gospel of Luke and Gospel of John?"

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Five images of Saint Peter's Square in the Vatican stitched up to make this panorama.

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External Resources

Homepage of The Vatican

Sources

^ Mitchell, S.A. (1840). Mitchell's geographical reader. Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co. p. 368.
^ 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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[mitchell368-1] Mitchell, S.A. (1840). Mitchell's geographical reader. Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co. p. 368.

[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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