Portal:Vatican City

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Welcome to the Vatican City Portal

Vatican City (/ˈvætɪkənˈsɪti/ ^ⓘ), officially the 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 sovereign 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. (Full article...)

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The Vatican City national football team (Italian: Selezione di calcio della Città del Vaticano) is the football team that represents Vatican City. They are one of only seven fully recognised sovereign states whose national team is not a FIFA member. The others are Monaco, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru and Palau. The football association of Vatican City was founded in 1972. The current president of the FA is Sergio Valci. The team has been managed by Giovanni Trapattoni in the past.

In the year 2000, Pope John Paul II established a Vatican sports department to "reinvigorating the tradition (of sport) within the Christian community". In the past Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone suggested that the Vatican could field a team of men from catholic seminaries. About the prospect, the cardinal stated, "If we just take the Brazilian students from our Pontifical universities we could have a magnificent squad." The cardinal also noted that in the 1990 FIFA World Cup, there were 42 players in the final round who attended Salesian training centers worldwide.

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Via della Conciliazione (Road of the Conciliation^[1]) is a street in the Rione of Borgo within Rome, Italy.

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The following are images from various Vatican City-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1The Italian peninsula in 1796. The Papal States in central Italy are coloured purple. (from Vatican City)
Image 2Vatican Museums' "New Wing", built by Raffaele Stern (1774–1820) (from Vatican City)
Image 3Part of the Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 4Territory of Vatican City State according to the Lateran Treaty (from Vatican City)
Image 5The Little Flower, Saint Therese of Lisieux is the official Patroness of the gardens. (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 6Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 7The shortest national railway system in the world (from Vatican City)
Image 8The Fountain of the Eagle "Fontana dell'Aquilone" in the Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 9Map of Vatican City, highlighting notable buildings and the Vatican gardens (from Vatican City)
Image 10Enlargeable, detailed map of Vatican City (from Geography of Vatican City)
Image 11The Vatican obelisk in St. Peter's Square was brought to Rome from Egypt by Caligula. (from Vatican City)
Image 12One possible modern interpretation (from Vatican City)
Image 13Pay phone in the Vatican City (from Vatican City)
Image 14President 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 15The Vatican City came into existence in 1929, a decade before the start of World War II (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 16Palace of the Governorate of Vatican City State (from Vatican City)
Image 17A 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 18Bernardino Nogara, the chief Vatican financier during the war (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 19The crowds of tourists in St. Peter's Square are a target for pickpockets. (from Vatican City)
Image 20Image of the United Nations member state borders on a map (from Vatican City)
Image 21The Seal of Vatican City. Note the use of the Italian language. (from Vatican City)
Image 22The Vatican's post office was established on 11 February 1929. (from Vatican City)
Image 23Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 24A guard of the Vatican at his sentry box (from Vatican City)
Image 25Palace of the Governorate of Vatican City State (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 26Musicians of the British Army's 38th (Irish) Brigade playing in front of St. Peter's Basilica in June 1944 (from Vatican City)
Image 27An early interpretation of the relative locations of the circus, and the medieval and current Basilicas of St. Peter (from Vatican City)
Image 28A souvenir shop on the roof of St. Peter's Basilica (from Economy of Vatican City)
Image 29The 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 30A view of the Gardens of Vatican City (from Geography of Vatican City)
Image 31An ATM in Vatican City with Latin instructions (from Economy of Vatican City)
Image 32Map of Vatican City (from Geography of Vatican City)
Image 33Pope Francis in Vatican City, 2021 (from Vatican City)
Image 34St. Peter's Basilica is one of the most renowned works of Renaissance architecture. (from Vatican City)
Image 35The Ingresso di Sant'Anna, an entrance to Vatican City from Italy (from Vatican City)
Image 36View of St. Peter's Square from the top of Michelangelo's dome (from Vatican City)
Image 37Armenian cross monument (Khatchkar) inside the Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 38Polish ambassador to the Vatican, Kazimierz Papée, was critical of Pius XII's pre-war mediation efforts. (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 39Cesare 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 40Empress 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 41The crowds of tourists in St. Peter's Square are a target for pickpockets. (from Crime in Vatican City)
Image 42Members 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 43Gendarmerie car (from Vatican City)

Did you know?

... that some Catholics considered Tom Lehrer's "The Vatican Rag" (audio featured) to be blasphemous?
... that Sans's boss theme, "Megalovania", was played at the Vatican as part of a circus act during an audience with Pope Francis?
... that the final silent film directed by Giulia Cassini Rizzotto was partly funded by the Vatican and featured Italian aristocrats?
... that the Vatican selected Mary Milligan in 1987 to be one of only three U.S. experts to assist the International Synod of Bishops on the Laity in Rome?
... that sport in Vatican City has included cricket, calcio fiorentino, and taekwondo?
... that a Vatican Hebrew manuscript has been used as a source for analysing and emending modern editions of the Palestinian Talmud?

...that the 22 Bodmer Papyri from a fifth-century Egyptian monastic library near Nag Hammadi contain three plays by Menander and fragments of the Iliad, as well as early versions of the Gospel of Luke and Gospel of John?"

...that capital punishment in the Vatican City was legal (but not carried out) between 1929 and 1969?

...that in the Vatican's Cortile del Belvedere Bramante created the first monumental formal garden design of the Renaissance?

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Vatican Palace: the gardens from the museum.

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Homepage of The Vatican

Sources

^ The name finally settled upon for the project was chosen by journalist Franco Franchi after World War II; Delli, Sergio (1975). Le strade di Roma. Rome: Newton & Compton. p. sub vocem.

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[1] The name finally settled upon for the project was chosen by journalist Franco Franchi after World War II; Delli, Sergio (1975). Le strade di Roma. Rome: Newton & Compton. p. sub vocem.

[1]