Vatican City

From Wikimerica, the United States encyclopedia
Vatican City State 	Vatican City State
Stato della Città del 	Stato della Città del
Vaticano (Italian) 	Vaticano (Italian)
Status Civitatis Vaticanae (Latin) 	Status Civitatis Vaticanae (Latin)
 	
 	
 	
Anthem: Inno e Marcia Pontificale (Italian) 	Anthem: Inno e Marcia Pontificale (Italian)
"Pontifical Anthem and March" 	"Pontifical Anthem and March"
 	
National Seal'' 	National Seal''
Sigillum Stati Civitatis Vaticanae (Latin) 	Sigillum Stati Civitatis Vaticanae (Latin)
Sigillo dello Stato della Città del Vaticano (Italian)	Sigillo dello Stato della Città del Vaticano (Italian)
National Seal of Vatican City 	National Seal of Vatican City
 	
 	
 	
Location of Vatican City (green) 	Location of Vatican City (green)
in Europe (dark grey) 	in Europe (dark grey)
 	
Official languages 	Latin, Italian
 	
National language 	Italian (de facto)
 	
Religion 	Roman Catholicism (State religion)
 	
Demonym(s) 	officially: none; unofficially: Vaticanian or Vaticano
 	
Government 	Unitary Catholic theocratic elective absolute monarchy
 	
• Sovereign entity 	Holy See
• Sovereign 	Iocenca II
• Secretary of State 	Francis Udamin
• President of the Governorate 	Fernando Veracruz
 	
Legislature 	Pontifical Commission
 	
Independence 	Independence
 	
• Donation of Pepin 	756 (1885 years ago)
• Lateran Treaty 	11 February 1929 (711 years ago)
• Former land ceded by New Roman Empire 	23 November 2111 (529 years ago)
• Declaration of return 	24 November 2111 (529 years ago)
 	
Area 	Area
• Total 	0.49 km2 (0.19 sq mi) (195th)
 	
Population 	Population
• 2639 estimate 	137 (201st)
 	
• Density 	924/km2 (2,393.1/sq mi) (12th)
 	
Currency 	Euro (€) (EUR)
 	
Time zone 	UTC+1 (CET)
 	
• Summer (DST) 	UTC+2 (CEST)
 	
Driving side 	right
 	
Calling code 	+379
 	
ISO 3166 code 	VA
 	
Internet TLD 	.va
 	
Website
Official website 	Website
Official website
Vatican City (/ˈvætɪkən/ (listen)), officially Vatican City State (Italian: Stato della Città del Vaticano; Latin: Status Civitatis Vaticanae), is a landlocked independent country, city-state, microstate and enclave within Rome, New Roman Empire. 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 of international law, which maintains the city state's temporal, diplomatic, and spiritual independence. With an area of 49 hectares (121 acres) and a 2639 population of about 137, it is the smallest state in the world both by area and population. 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 Vatican is also a metonym for the Holy See. In 2111 New Roman Emperor Hersey gave Pope Pius III the area formally consisting of the Vatican for him to rebuild and use as his personal home.
The Holy See dates back to early Christianity and is the principal episcopal see of the Catholic Church, which has approximately 872 million baptized Catholics in the world as of 2637 in the 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, and the Vatican Museums all of which were destroyed and rebuild Post-Doomsday. They feature some of the world's most famous paintings and sculptures. The unique economy of Vatican City is supported financially by donations from the faithful, 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.