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File:Flag of Vatican City (2023–present).svg The flag of Vatican City Vatican City Vatican City State (Italian : Stato della Città del Vaticano ; Latin : Status Civitatis Vaticanae ), is a landlocked sovereign 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 764 (as of 2023), 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.
The Holy See dates back to early Christianity and is the principal episcopal see of the Catholic Church, which has approximately 1.329 billion baptised Catholics in the world as of 2018[update] Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches . The independent state of Vatican City, on the other hand, came into existence on 11 February 1929 by the Lateran Treaty between the Holy See and Italy, which spoke of it as a new creation, not as a vestige of the much larger Papal States (756–1870), which had previously encompassed much of Central Italy .
Vatican City contains religious and cultural sites such as St. Peter's Basilica , the Sistine Chapel , the Vatican Apostolic Library , and the Vatican Museums . They feature some of the world's most famous paintings and sculptures. The unique economy of Vatican City is supported financially by donations from Catholic believers, by the sale of postage stamps and souvenirs, fees for admission to museums, and sales of publications. Vatican City has no taxes, and items are duty-free. (Full article...
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The Politics of Vatican City takes place in a framework of an absolute theocratic elective monarchy , in which the head of the Catholic Church , the Pope , exercises ex officio supreme legislative, executive, and judicial power over the State of the Vatican City [ 1] Holy See ), a rare case of non-hereditary monarchy .
The pope is elected in the Conclave , composed of all the cardinal electors (now limited to all the cardinals below the age of 80), after the death or resignation of the previous Pope. The Conclave is held in the Sistine Chapel , where all the electors are locked in (Latin cum clave ) until the election for which a two-thirds majority is required. The faithful can follow the results of the polls (usually two in the morning and two in the evening, until election) by a chimney-top, visible from St. Peter's Square : in a stove attached to the chimney are burnt the voting papers, and additives make the resulting smoke black (fumata nera ) in case of no election, white (fumata bianca ) when the new pope is finally elected. The Dean of the Sacred College (Cardinale Decano ) will then ask the freshly elected pope to choose his pastoral name, and as soon as the pope is dressed with the white habit, the Senior Cardinal-Deacon (Cardinale Protodiacono ) appears on the major balcony of St. Peter's façade to introduce the new pope[ 2] Latin sentence
Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum: habemus papam . (I announce to you a great joy: We have a Pope).
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File:Specola1.jpg The Vatican Observatory (Specola Vaticana ) is an astronomical research and educational institution supported by the Holy See . Originally based in the Roman College of Rome , it now has headquarters and laboratory at the summer residence of the Pope in Castel Gandolfo , Italy , and an observatory at the Mount Graham International Observatory in the United States .[ 3]
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The following are images from various Vatican City-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1 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 2 Vatican Museums' "New Wing", built by
Raffaele Stern (1774–1820) (from
Vatican City )
Image 3 Map of Vatican City (from
Geography of Vatican City )
Image 5 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 6 The Seal of Vatican City. Note the use of the Italian language. (from
Vatican City )
Image 8 Vatican Gardens (from
Gardens of Vatican City )
Image 9 An
ATM in Vatican City with
Latin instructions (from
Economy of 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 12 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 13 The crowds of tourists in
St. Peter's Square are a target for pickpockets. (from
Vatican City )
Image 15 A guard of the Vatican at his sentry box (from
Vatican City )
Image 16 Part of the Vatican Gardens (from
Gardens of Vatican City )
Image 17 Map of Vatican City, highlighting notable buildings and the Vatican gardens (from
Vatican City )
Image 18 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 19 Vatican Gardens (from
Gardens of Vatican City )
Image 20 The Italian peninsula in 1796. The Papal States in central Italy are coloured purple. (from
Vatican City )
Image 21 The Vatican's post office was established on 11 February 1929. (from
Vatican City )
Image 22 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 23 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 24 Musicians of the
British Army 's
38th (Irish) Brigade playing in front of
St. Peter's Basilica in June 1944 (from
Vatican City )
Image 25 Bernardino Nogara , the chief Vatican financier during the war (from
Vatican City during World War II )
Image 26 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 28 View of St. Peter's Square from the top of Michelangelo's dome (from
Vatican City )
Image 29 Pope Francis in Vatican City, 2021 (from
Vatican City )
Image 31 Pay phone in the Vatican City (from
Vatican City )
Image 33 The
Ingresso di Sant'Anna , an entrance to Vatican City from Italy (from
Vatican City )
Image 35 One possible modern interpretation (from
Vatican City )
Image 36 Enlargeable, detailed map of Vatican City (from
Geography of Vatican City )
Image 37 Armenian cross monument (
Khatchkar ) inside the Vatican Gardens (from
Gardens of Vatican City )
Image 39 St. Peter's Basilica is one of the most renowned works of Renaissance architecture. (from
Vatican City )
Image 40 Territory of Vatican City State according to the
Lateran Treaty (from
Vatican City )
Image 41 The crowds of tourists in
St. Peter's Square are a target for pickpockets. (from
Crime in Vatican City )
Image 42 An early interpretation of the relative locations of the circus, and the
medieval and
current Basilicas of St. Peter (from
Vatican City )
Image 43 Image of the
United Nations member state borders on a map (from
Vatican City )
Image 44 The
Little Flower ,
Saint Therese of Lisieux is the official Patroness of the gardens. (from
Gardens of Vatican City )
Image 45 The Fountain of the Eagle "
Fontana dell'Aquilone " in the Vatican Gardens (from
Gardens of Vatican City )
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