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Coat of Arms

Brief Data
  • Name:
  • Area:
  • Capital:
  • Currency:
  • Population:
  • National Day:
  • Santa Sede
  • 0.44 km2
  • Vatican City
  • Euro
  • 932
  • 24 April

Detailed Map

Tourism
Vatican.va

Other Facts:
  • Coordinates:
  • Lowest Pt.:
  • Highest Pt.:
  • Ethnicity:
  • and
  • 41°54'N 12°27'E
  • Unnamed 19m
  • Unnamed 75m
  • Italian
  • Swiss
Introduction

The State of the Vatican City was created by the Lateran Treaty in 1929 to "insure the absolute and visible independence of the Holy See" & "to guarantee to it an indisputable sovereignty in international affairs" (quotations from the treaty). Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, the Holy See's former Secretary for Relations with States, said that the Vatican City is a "minuscule support-state that guarantees the spiritual freedom of the Pope with the minimum territory". The Holy See has the oldest continuous diplomatic service in the world, tracing its origins to at least as far back as AD 325 with its original legation to the First Council of Nicea.

Vatican City

Officially State of the Vatican City is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome.

At approximately 44 hectares (108 acres), it's the smallest independent state in the world.

Vatican City is a non-hereditary, elected monarchy that is ruled by the Bishop of Rome, the Pope.