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The flag of Vatican City
Vatican City (), 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 originally located in Rome , Italy . 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 under international law , which maintains the city-state's temporal power and governance , diplomatic , and spiritual independence . The Vatican is also a metonym for the pope , the city-state's and worldwide Catholic Church government Holy See, and Roman Curia . The country has the world's smallest land area and the smallest population , with 764 citizens as of 2023.
With an area of 49 hectares (121 acres) and as of 2023 a population of about 764, it is the smallest 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... )
The
Lateran Palace (Italian:
Palazzo Laterano ), formally the
Apostolic Palace of the Lateran (Italian:
Palazzo Apostolico Lateranense ), is an ancient
palace of the
Roman Empire and later the main
Papal residence .
Adjacent to the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano , the cathedral church of Rome , the Lateran Palace is now occupied by the Museo Storico Vaticano which illustrates the history of the Papal States . The Lateran Palaces also houses the offices of the Vicariate of Rome , as well as the residential apartments of the Cardinal Vicar , the Pope's delegate for the daily administration of the Diocese of Rome. Until 1970, the palace was also home to the important collections of the Lateran Museum , now dispersed among other parts of the Vatican Museums .
From the fourth century, the Palace of the Lateran on Piazza San Giovanni in southeast Rome was the principal residence of the Popes, and continued so for about a thousand years.
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The following are images from various Vatican City-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1 Pope Francis in Vatican City, 2021 (from
Vatican City )
Image 2 The
Little Flower ,
Saint Therese of Lisieux is the official Patroness of the gardens. (from
Gardens of Vatican City )
Image 4 Vatican Gardens (from
Gardens of Vatican City )
Image 5 The Fountain of the Eagle "
Fontana dell'Aquilone " in the Vatican Gardens (from
Gardens of Vatican City )
Image 6 President
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 7 Part of the Vatican Gardens (from
Gardens of Vatican City )
Image 8 One possible modern interpretation (from
Vatican City )
Image 9 The Seal of Vatican City. Note the use of the Italian language. (from
Vatican City )
Image 10 Vatican Museums' "New Wing", built by
Raffaele Stern (1774–1820) (from
Vatican City )
Image 11 Cesare 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 13 An
ATM in Vatican City with
Latin instructions (from
Economy of Vatican City )
Image 14 Image of the
United Nations member state borders on a map (from
Vatican City )
Image 15 Empress
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 16 The
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 18 The
Ingresso di Sant'Anna , an entrance to Vatican City from Italy (from
Vatican City )
Image 19 Enlargeable, detailed map of Vatican City (from
Geography of Vatican City )
Image 20 The
Vatican City came into existence in 1929, a decade before the start of World War II (from
Vatican City during World War II )
Image 21 The Vatican's post office was established on 11 February 1929. (from
Vatican City )
Image 22 Territory of Vatican City State according to the
Lateran Treaty (from
Vatican City )
Image 24 View of St. Peter's Square from the top of Michelangelo's dome (from
Vatican City )
Image 25 St. Peter's Basilica , the most renowned work of Renaissance architecture (from
Vatican City )
Image 26 The crowds of tourists in
St. Peter's Square are a target for pickpockets. (from
Crime in Vatican City )
Image 27 The Italian peninsula in 1796. The Papal States in central Italy are coloured purple. (from
Vatican City )
Image 28 Map of Vatican City, highlighting notable buildings and the Vatican gardens (from
Vatican City )
Image 29 Armenian cross monument (
Khatchkar ) inside the Vatican Gardens (from
Gardens of Vatican City )
Image 30 The crowds of tourists in
St. Peter's Square are a target for pickpockets. (from
Vatican City )
Image 31 Map of Vatican City (from
Geography of Vatican City )
Image 33 Pay phone in the Vatican City (from
Vatican City )
Image 34 Vatican Gardens (from
Gardens of Vatican City )
Image 35 An early interpretation of the relative locations of the circus, and the
medieval and
current Basilicas of St. Peter (from
Vatican City )
Image 36 Bernardino Nogara , the chief Vatican financier during the war (from
Vatican City during World War II )
Image 38 Members 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 39 A 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 40 Palace of the Governorate of Vatican City State (from
Gardens of Vatican City )
Image 41 Musicians of the
British Army 's
38th (Irish) Brigade playing in front of
St. Peter's Basilica in June 1944 (from
Vatican City )
Image 42 A guard of the Vatican at his sentry box (from
Vatican City )
Image 43 Polish ambassador to the Vatican,
Kazimierz Papée , was critical of Pius XII's pre-war mediation efforts. (from
Vatican City during World War II )
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Saint Peter's Square