Outline of Vatican City

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The location of Vatican City
An enlargeable map of the State of the Vatican City, including extraterritorial properties of the Holy See bordering Vatican City

The State of the Vatican City (Italian: Stato della Città del Vaticano) is a landlocked sovereign religious city-state comprising a walled enclave within the City of Rome.[1] With an area of approximately 44 hectares (110 acres) and a population of about 800, it is the smallest independent state in the world.[2] Vatican City is a city-state that came into existence only in 1929. It is thus clearly distinct from the central authority of the Roman Catholic Church, known as the Holy See, which existed long before 1929. Ordinances of Vatican City are published in Italian. Official documents of the Holy See are issued mainly in Latin. The two entities even have distinct passports: the Holy See, not being a country, only issues diplomatic and service passports; the state of Vatican City issues normal passports. In both cases the number of passports issued is extremely limited.

Vatican City is a non-hereditary, elected absolute monarchy that is ruled by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Rome, commonly known as the Pope. The highest state functionaries are all clergymen of the Roman Catholic Church. It is the sovereign territory of the Holy See (Sancta Sedes) and the location of the Pope's residence, referred to as the Apostolic Palace.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and introduction to Vatican City.

[edit] General reference

View of Vatican City from the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome

[edit] Geography of Vatican City

An enlargeable map of the Vatican City

[edit] Environment of Vatican City

A section of the wall in Vatican City, from the outside, behind the Vatican Gardens.
View of the Vatican Gardens from the dome of St. Peter's Basilica. (The Vatican Museums can be seen to the right).

[edit] Natural geographic features of Vatican City

Vatican City is an enclave in an urban area, and lacks the geographic features common to (much larger) countries:

[edit] Regions of Vatican City

  • None
  • Vatican City is inside Rome, which in turn lies within the Lazio region of Italy.
  • Vatican City lies next to the Borgo district in Rome.

[edit] Ecoregions of Vatican City

  • None

[edit] Administrative divisions of Vatican City

[edit] Demography of Vatican City

[edit] Government and politics of Vatican City

[edit] Branches of the government of Vatican City

Palace of the Governatorate, Vatican City

[edit] Executive branch of the government of Vatican City

[edit] Legislative branch of the government of Vatican City

[edit] Judicial branch of the government of Vatican City

[edit] Foreign relations of Vatican City

[edit] International organization membership

The State of the Vatican City is a member of:[1]

[edit] Law and order in Vatican City

[edit] Military of Vatican City

[edit] Local government in Vatican City

  • Being a city-state, the government of Vatican City is also the local government.

[edit] History of Vatican City

Main article: History of Vatican City, Timeline of the history of Vatican City, and Current events of Vatican City

[edit] Culture of Vatican City

Saint Peter's Square and beyond it Rome, as viewed from the dome of Saint Peter's Basilica.
St. Peter's Basilica from the River Tiber. The iconic dome dominates the skyline of Rome.

[edit] Art in Vatican City

On the last Sunday of each month, the Vatican Museum is open to the public for free. This is extremely popular and it is common to wait in line for many hours. This image is a panoramic view of one small stretch of the entire queue in April 2007, which continues for some distance in both directions beyond view. In the background is the Vatican City's wall.

[edit] Sports in Vatican City

[edit] Economy and infrastructure of Vatican City

[edit] Education in Vatican City

[edit] Infrastructure of Vatican City

The Vatican Radio building.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] Sister projects

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