Portal:Vatican City

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

Welcome to the Vatican City Portal

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 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...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Selected article

The legal code regarding homosexuality in the Vatican City is based on the Italian penal code of 1929, the time of the founding of the sovereign state Vatican City. However, it was announced in late 2008 that the Vatican "will no longer automatically adopt new Italian laws as its own, a top Vatican official said, citing the vast number of laws Italy churns out, many of which are in odds with Catholic doctrine".^[1]

There are no criminal laws against non-commercial, private, adult and consensual same-sex sexual activity.

The Vatican does not have its own separate criminal code...

More selected articles

More...

Selected image

Credit: Rnt20

Via della Conciliazione (Road of the Conciliation^[2]) is a street in the Rione of Borgo within Rome, Italy.

More selected pictures

Read more

Subcategories

Category puzzle

Select [►] to view subcategories

General images - load new batch

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

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

Did you know?

... 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 Sans's boss theme, "Megalovania", was played at the Vatican as part of a circus act during an audience with Pope Francis?
... that the Second Vatican Council tried to undo the latinization of Eastern Catholic liturgy?
... that the final silent film directed by Giulia Cassini Rizzotto was partly funded by the Vatican and featured Italian aristocrats?
... that a Vatican Hebrew manuscript has been used as a source for analysing and emending modern editions of the Palestinian Talmud?
... that some Catholics considered Tom Lehrer's "The Vatican Rag" (audio featured) to be blasphemous?

...that Cædwalla of Wessex conquered southeast England during his brief 7th century reign?

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

...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?"

More Did you know facts

Related portals

WikiProjects

Vatican City

Roman Curia Taskforce

Things to do

Here are some tasks awaiting attention:

Article requests : Seal of Vatican City State
Expand : Santo Stefano degli Abissini
Verify : Music of Vatican City

–When a task is completed, please remove it from the list.

Selected panorama

Credit: MarcusObal

Five images of Saint Peter's Square in the Vatican stitched up to make this panorama.

More panoramas

Read more...

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Commons
Free media repository
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals
Wikidata
Free knowledge base
Wikinews
Free-content news
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations
Wikisource
Free-content library
Wikiversity
Free learning tools
Wikivoyage
Free travel guide
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus

External Resources

Homepage of The Vatican

Sources

^ Vatican ends automatic adoption of Italian law. Reuters. Retrieved on 26 October 2010.
^ 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.

Discover Wikipedia using portals

Purge server cache

[1] Vatican ends automatic adoption of Italian law. Reuters. Retrieved on 26 October 2010.

[2] 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]

[2]