Vatican City: Holy See's independent state, an enclave within Rome, Italy

It is also one of the world's three city-states.

Vatican City State Stato della Città del Vaticano
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: Inno e Marcia Pontificale  (Italian) Pontifical Anthem and March
Location of  Vatican City  (green) on the European continent  (dark grey)  —  [Legend]
Capital	Vatican City
Official languages	Italian
Government	Ecclesiastical; sacerdotal-monarchical; absolute monarchy; elective monarchy; elective theocracy.
• Sovereign	Francis
• Secretary of State	Pietro Parolin
Legislature	Pontifical Commission
Independence from the Kingdom of Italy
• Lateran Treaty	11 February 1929
Area
• Total	44 ha (110 acres) (250th)
Population
• 2023 estimate	764 (240th)
• Density	1,777/km2 (4,602.4/sq mi) (6th)
Currency	Euro (€)b (EUR)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Driving side	right
Calling code	+379
ISO 3166 code	VA
Internet TLD	.va
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.

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.

Population

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.

Language

The Vatican does not have a law declaring an official language. Italian is the main language used. The Holy See's official language is Latin.

The official religion of the Vatican is Roman Catholic Christianity, and because the state is ruled by a Pope, it is a theocracy.

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  St. Peter's square seen from the basilica.
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  The basilica, in early morning