Vatican City
(
; officially
Vatican City State
,
Italian
:
Stato della Citta del Vaticano
)
[6]
(also sometimes referred to as
the Vatican
) is the smallest
country
in the world by
size
, at 0.49
km²
and by population.
[7]
It is also one of the world's three
city-states
.
Its
territory
is completely surrounded by
Italy
and it is only one of three countries in the world that are
enclaves
of another country (the others being
San Marino
, also in Italy, and
Lesotho
in southern Africa). Also, it is the only country in the world that is an enclave of a
city
, as all of the land around it is part of
Rome
, the capital of Italy. The Vatican City is a
city-state
, because all its territory is
urban
and built-up.
The Vatican City is the
headquarters
of the
Roman Catholic Church
and its government, the
Holy See
. Its
head of state
is the
Pope
which is, religiously speaking, the
Bishop of Rome
and head of the Roman Catholic Church. The current Pope,
Pope Francis
, former
cardinal
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was elected on 13 March 2013.
The Vatican City is also important for its
culture
and
art
. The Vatican's masterpieces are very well known in the world:
St. Peter's Square
,
St. Peter's Basilica
, the
Sistine Chapel
, the
Vatican Museums
and the
Apostolic Palace
, where the Pope lives. There are also hundreds of other
sculptures
and
pictures
.
The Pope used to rule the
Papal States
, which included most of Italy. Catholic popes had generally tried to stop Italy from becoming one country because they feared they would lose their control of at least one of the Papal States.
[
source?
]
In 1861 Italy was unified under the King of Savoy, but
Rome
and
Latium
remained unconquered. On September 20, 1870 Italian troops invaded. Rome became capital of the new
kingdom
.
The
Pope
claimed he was a prisoner of the Italian state and
excommunicated
all the people who helped invade the Papal state. This stopped Catholics from taking part in public life under Catholic government.
In 1929
Benito Mussolini
, decided to sign an agreement with
Pope Pius XI
, called the
Lateran Treaty
, which gave the territory of the Vatican to the Pope. Another treaty gave the Vatican money each year to compensate for the lost territories.
The government
structure
is a
theocracy
(a country run by religion) with the
Pope
being the highest authority. The pope is elected by the College of Cardinals which can lead the Roman
Catholic Church
and the city-state itself. The Pope also holds the title of "Bishop of Rome".
The Pope is the head of state of the Vatican and holds the office until death or resignation. As head of state, the pope's title is officially "the Sovereign". The government and legislature is the
Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State
.
Vatican City has a population of 764. The
citizens
of the Vatican include the
Pope
, all the
cardinals
, all the
nuncios
(who is the
equivalent
of an
ambassador
) and other
diplomats
, all the
Swiss Guards
, and other important people. Also, there are 372 Vatican citizens who live in other countries, including cardinals and nuncios. Vatican citizenship cannot be passed to
children
and
spouses
; and, except for the Pope and cardinals, Vatican citizenship is lost when the term of office comes to an end, for the Swiss Guards, nuncios and diplomats, and other people working for the Vatican.
[8]
The Vatican does have a law declaring an
official language
.
Italian
is the most used language used. The
Holy See
's official language is
Latin
and Italian
The
official religion
of the Vatican is
Roman Catholic
Christianity
, and because the state is ruled by a Pope, it is a
theocracy
.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Vaticano
.
- ↑
In accordance with paragraph 2 of the
Legge sulle fonti del diritto
of 7 June 1929, all laws and regulations of the state are published in the Italian language
Supplemento per le leggi e disposizioni dello Stato della Citta del Vaticano
attached to the
Acta Apostolicae Sedis
. The text of the first seven items published in that supplement is given
here.
Archived
2010-12-27 at the
Wayback Machine
While the state itself uses only Italian, many other languages are used by institutions situated within the state, such as the
Holy See
, the
Pontifical Swiss Guard
, and the
Pontifical Academy of Sciences
.
The Holy See uses
Latin
as an official language and French as a diplomatic language; in addition, its
Secretariat of State
uses English, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish. The Swiss Guard, in which commands on parade are given in German, also uses French and Italian in all its official ceremonies.
- ↑
Visitors and tourists are not permitted to drive inside the Vatican without specific permission, which is normally granted only to those who have business with some office in the Vatican.
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1.
Transcontinental country
/territory that is part of both Europe and Asia. 2. Territory or with territory geographically part of North America. 3. Partially recognized. 4. Not all dependent territories are listed. 5. Territory has some form of self-rule. 6. Territory or with territory geographically part of Africa.
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