Vatican City

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Vatican City, landlocked ecclesiastical state, seat of the Roman Catholic Church, and an enclave surrounded by Rome, situated on the west bank of the Tiber River. Vatican City is the world’s smallest fully independent nation-state.

Layout of the city

Vatican City’s medieval and Renaissance walls form its boundaries, except on the southeast at St. Peter’s Square (Piazza San Pietro). Of the six entrances, only three—the piazza, the Arco delle Campane (Arch of the Bells) in the facade of St. Peter’s Basilica, and the entrance to the Vatican Museums and Galleries in the north wall—are open to the public. The most imposing building is St. Peter’s Basilica, built during the 4th century and rebuilt during the 16th century. Erected over the tomb of St. Peter the Apostle, it is the second largest religious building (after Yamoussoukro Basilica) in Christendom.

Quick Facts

See article: flag of Vatican City

Audio File: National anthem of Vatican City

Population:

(2024 est.) 882

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Form Of Government:

Papacy

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Official Name(S):

State of the Vatican City; Stato della Città del Vaticano (Italian)

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Total Area (Sq Km):

0.44

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Total Area (Sq Mi):

0.17

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In full:

State of the Vatican City

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Italian:

Stato della Città del Vaticano

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The Vatican Palace is the residence of the pope within the city walls. The Holy See is the name given to the government of the Roman Catholic Church, which is led by the pope as the bishop of Rome. As such, the Holy See’s authority extends over Catholics throughout the world. Since 1929 it has resided in Vatican City, which was established as an independent state to enable the pope to exercise his universal authority.

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Vatican City has its own telephone system, post office, gardens, astronomical observatory, radio station, banking system, and pharmacy, as well as a contingent of Swiss Guards responsible for the personal safety of the pope since 1506. Almost all supplies—including food, water, electricity, and gas—must be imported. There is no income tax and no restriction on the import or export of funds. As the Holy See, it derives its income from the voluntary contributions of more than one billion Roman Catholics worldwide, as well as interest on investments and the sale of stamps, coins, and publications. Banking operations and expenditures have been reported publicly since the early 1980s.

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History and governance

The city of Rome has been an important center of Christianity since the early days of the church. St. Peter, considered the first pope, is thought to have lived and died in Rome. In 313 Emperor Constantine I issued the Edict of Milan, which ended official persecution of Christians and opened the door to the growth of the church in both spiritual and material terms. By the 4th century the church had gained control of a great deal of territory, called the Patrimony of St. Peter, in and around Rome. Papal influence in central Italy began to increase in the 5th century, as the Roman Empire fell apart and the people of the area began to rely on the pope for protection from invading armies. By about the year 600 the church was one of the largest landowners in the world.

The legal basis for the foundation of the Papal States was provided by the Donation of Pippin, which granted the pope the rights to large parts of central Italy in 754. In the 9th century the first city walls (Leonine Walls) were completed under Pope Leo IV. Between the 12th and 14th centuries the Vatican underwent something of a building boom as a new palace was built and the Leonine Walls were restored. The Vatican fell into decay after 1309, when the office of the papacy was moved to Avignon in France. The pope’s return to Rome in 1377 marked the beginning of a revitalization.

Italy became a unified country in the 19th century, which led to major changes in the Vatican’s political status. Most immediately, the church lost its land to the new country. Some of the papal territories voted to join the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1859. Italy annexed the rest of the Papal States by 1870 and made Rome the Italian capital. To protest the incorporation into a unified Italy, each pope thereafter remained a voluntary “prisoner of the Vatican,” never leaving the small territory of the papal grounds. This situation lasted nearly 60 years.

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In 1929 a solution to this ongoing problem was found. Vatican City’s independent sovereignty was recognized by the Fascist Italian government in the Lateran Treaty. Sovereignty is exercised by the pope upon his election as the head of the Roman Catholic Church. He has absolute executive, legislative, and judicial powers within the city. While most of the inhabitants of Vatican City are priests or nuns, they also include several hundred laypersons engaged in secretarial, domestic, trade, and service occupations.

Institutions and attractions

Special extraterritorial privileges are extended to more than 10 other buildings in Rome and to Castel Gandolfo, the pope’s summer residence in the Alban Hills. In addition, Vatican City maintains embassies in numerous foreign nations.

The Vatican enjoyed a cultural golden age during the Renaissance, when the popes were among Italy’s foremost patrons of the arts. The Vatican Museums and Galleries, the frescoes by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel, the frescoes by Pinturicchio in the Borgia Apartment, and Raphael’s Stanze (“Rooms”) attract critics, artists, and flocks of tourists from throughout the world. Years of restoration work on the Sistine Chapel frescoes were completed in 1994, making it possible to view Michelangelo’s work in full vibrant colors. In 2000 the millennial Jubilee focused world attention on Vatican City.

The Vatican Apostolic Library contains a priceless collection of some 150,000 manuscripts and 1.6 million printed books, many from pre-Christian and early Christian times. The Vatican publishes its own influential daily newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, and its press can print books and pamphlets in any of 30 languages, from old Ecclesiastical Georgian to Tamil. Since 1983 the Vatican has produced its own television programming. Its radio broadcasts are heard in some 40 languages in many parts of the world. Vatican City was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1984. Pop. (2019 est.) 453.