Welcome to the Vatican City Portal
The flag of Vatican City
Vatican City (), 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 . It is also the second-least populated capital 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... )
The coat of arms of the State of Vatican City is blazoned gules , two keys in saltire Or and argent , interlaced in the rings gules/Or, beneath a tiara argent, crowned Or . Thus it is simply the emblem of the Papacy (emblem of the Holy See) displayed on a red field with the positions of the gold and silver keys reversed.
The crossed keys of gold and silver symbolise the keys of the kingdom of heaven promised to Saint Peter , with authority to bind and loose (Matthew 16:18–19 ).
The triple crown (the tiara ) represents "the three powers of the Supreme Pontiff: Sacred Orders, Jurisdiction and Magisterium",[ 1] in other words: his functions as "supreme priest", "supreme pastor" and "supreme teacher".
The gold cross surmounting the triple crowns symbolizes the crucifixion of Jesus .
Credit: George Peter Alexander Healy
Vatican during the Savoyard Era 1870-1929 describes the relation of the Vatican to Italy , after 1870, which marked the end of the Papal State and 1929, when the papacy regained autonomy in the Lateran Treaty .
Category puzzle
Select [►] to view subcategories
The following are images from various Vatican City-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1 Empress
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 2 One possible modern interpretation (from
Vatican City )
Image 3 Polish ambassador to the Vatican,
Kazimierz Papée , was critical of Pius XII's pre-war mediation efforts. (from
Vatican City during World War II )
Image 4 Members 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 5 Territory of Vatican City State according to the
Lateran Treaty (from
Vatican City )
Image 6 Vatican Gardens (from
Gardens of Vatican City )
Image 8 View of St. Peter's Square from the top of Michelangelo's dome (from
Vatican City )
Image 10 A 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 11 Musicians of the
British Army 's
38th (Irish) Brigade playing in front of
St. Peter's Basilica in June 1944 (from
Vatican City )
Image 12 Armenian cross monument (
Khatchkar ) inside the Vatican Gardens (from
Gardens of Vatican City )
Image 13 St. Peter's Basilica , the most renowned work of Renaissance architecture (from
Vatican City )
Image 14 The Italian peninsula in 1796. The Papal States in central Italy are coloured purple. (from
Vatican City )
Image 15 Bernardino Nogara , the chief Vatican financier during the war (from
Vatican City during World War II )
Image 16 Map of Vatican City, highlighting notable buildings and the Vatican gardens (from
Vatican City )
Image 17 A guard of the Vatican at his sentry box (from
Vatican City )
Image 18 An early interpretation of the relative locations of the circus, and the
medieval and
current Basilicas of St. Peter (from
Vatican City )
Image 19 Part of the Vatican Gardens (from
Gardens of Vatican City )
Image 20 The
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 21 The Vatican's post office was established on 11 February 1929. (from
Vatican City )
Image 22 The
Ingresso di Sant'Anna , an entrance to Vatican City from Italy (from
Vatican City )
Image 25 President
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 26 The crowds of tourists in
St. Peter's Square are a target for pickpockets. (from
Crime in Vatican City )
Image 27 Pay phone in the Vatican City (from
Vatican City )
Image 28 Cesare 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 29 Image of the
United Nations member state borders on a map. (from
Vatican City )
Image 30 The
Vatican City came into existence in 1929, a decade before the start of World War II (from
Vatican City during World War II )
Image 31 The crowds of tourists in
St. Peter's Square are a target for pickpockets. (from
Vatican City )
Image 32 Pope Francis in Vatican City, 2021 (from
Vatican City )
Image 33 The
Little Flower ,
Saint Therese of Lisieux is the official Patroness of the gardens. (from
Gardens of Vatican City )
Image 34 Vatican Museums' "New Wing", built by
Raffaele Stern (1774–1820) (from
Vatican City )
Image 35 Enlargeable, detailed map of Vatican City (from
Geography of Vatican City )
Image 36 Map of Vatican City (from
Geography of Vatican City )
Image 37 An
ATM in Vatican City with
Latin instructions (from
Economy of Vatican City )
Image 38 The Fountain of the Eagle "
Fontana dell'Aquilone " in the Vatican Gardens (from
Gardens of Vatican City )
Image 39 Vatican Gardens (from
Gardens of Vatican City )
Image 41 The Seal of Vatican City. Note the use of the Italian language. (from
Vatican City )
Image 43 Palace of the Governorate of Vatican City State (from
Gardens of Vatican City )
Here are some tasks awaiting attention:
–When a task is completed, please remove it from the list.
Saint Peter's Square