Vatican City
 |
This article may have too many red links. |
| Vatican City State Stato della Città del Vaticano
|
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||||
| Anthem: Inno e Marcia Pontificale (Italian) Pontifical Anthem and March |
||||||
![Location of Vatican City (green)on the European continent (dark grey) — [Legend]](/web/20161023232908/https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Location_Vatican_City_Europe.png) Location of Vatican City (green)
on the European continent (dark grey) — [Legend] |
||||||
| Capital | Vatican City 41°54.2′N 12°27.2′E / 41.9033°N 12.4533°E |
|||||
| Official languages | Italian[note 1] | |||||
| Government | Ecclesiastical; sacerdotal-monarchical; absolute monarchy;[1] elective monarchy;[2] elective theocracy.[3] |
|||||
| - | Sovereign | Francis | ||||
| - | President of the Governorate |
Pietro Parolin | ||||
| Legislature | Pontifical Commission | |||||
| Independence from the Kingdom of Italy | ||||||
| - | Lateran Treaty | 11 February 1929 | ||||
| Area | ||||||
| - | Total | 44 ha (250th) 110 acres |
||||
| Population | ||||||
| - | July 2013 estimate | 839 (240th) | ||||
| - | Density | 1877/km2 (6th) 4,859/sq mi |
||||
| Currency | Euro (€)b (EUR) | |||||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | |||||
| - | Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||||
| Drives on the | right[note 2] | |||||
| Calling code | +379[4] | |||||
| ISO 3166 code | VA | |||||
| Internet TLD | .va | |||||
| a. | Since 1 January 2002 (see Valuta at www.vatican.va, retrieved 23 October 2009). Before 2002, the currency was the Vatican lira, on a par with the Italian lira. | |||||
Vatican City (
i/ˈvætɨkən ˈsɪti/; officially Vatican City State, Italian: Stato della Città del Vaticano)[5] is a country and the smallest country in the world by size, at 0.44 km².[6] It is an enclave, which means it is completely surrounded by the city of Rome, the capital of Italy (it is one of only three countries in the world like this, the others being San Marino, also in Italy, and Lesotho in Africa). It was established on February 11, 1929, with the Lateran Agreement (Patti Lateranensi). This was signed by Benito Mussolini and Pope Pius XI. The Vatican City is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church and its government, the Holy See.
The Head of State is the Pope, now Pope Francis, former cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was elected on 13 March 2013. It 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.
History[change | change source]
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 the Holy See, called the Lateran Treaty, which created the Vatican State. Another treaty gave the Vatican money each year to compensate for the lost territories.
Politics and Government[change | change source]
The government structure is a theocracy with the Pontifical leader being the highest authority. A bishop is elected by the College of Cardinals to become the new Pope and leader of the Holy See and the Romans Catholic Church. The Pope also holds the title of "Bishop of Rome".
Religion[change | change source]
The religion of the city is the Roman Catholic Church.
Gallery[change | change source]
-
St. Peter's square seen from the basilica.
-
The basilica, in early morning
References[change | change source]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Vatican City |
- ↑ "Internet portal of Vatican City State". Vatican City State. http://www.vaticanstate.va/EN/State_and_Government/StateDepartments/index.htm. Retrieved 9 July 2011.
- ↑ Gerhard Robbers, Encyclopedia of World Constitutions (Infobase Publishing 2006 ISBN 978-0-81606078-8), p. 1009
- ↑ Nick Megoran, "Theocracy" in International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, vol. 11, Elsevier 2009 ISBN 978-0-08-044911-1, p.226| Quote:elective theocracy (although its representatives would be unlikely to accept that label)
- ↑ ITU-T assigned code 379 to Vatican City. However, Vatican City is included in the Italian telephone numbering plan and uses the Italian country code 39, followed by 06 (for Rome) and 698.
- ↑ "Stato della Città del Vaticano" is the name used in the text of the state's Fundamental Law and in the state's official website.
- ↑ http://www.vaticanstate.va/EN/homepage.htm
Notes[change | change source]
- ↑ 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 Città del Vaticano attached to the Acta Apostolicae Sedis. The text of the first seven items published in that supplement is given here. 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.
