Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State (Italian: Stato della Città del Vaticano; Latin: Status Civitatis Vaticanae), often shortened as the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state. Ruled by the pope, it is an enclave within the city of Rome, Italy, and serves as the administrative centre of the Catholic Church. Vatican City is governed by the See of Rome, commonly known as the Holy See, itself a sovereign entity under international law, which maintains its temporal power, governance, diplomacy, and spiritual independence. Vatican is also used as a metonym for the Holy See, which is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City, comprising the pope and the Roman Curia. The independent state of Vatican City came into existence in 1929 via the Lateran Treaty between the Holy See and the Kingdom of Italy, which spoke of it as a creation, not as a vestige of the much larger Papal States (756–1870), which had previously encompassed much of Central Italy.
The Papal State(s), the State(s) of the Church, the Pontifical States, the Ecclesiastical States, or the Roman States (Italian: Stato Pontificio, also Stato della Chiesa, Stati della Chiesa, Stati Pontifici, and Stato Ecclesiastico; Latin: Status Pontificius, also Dicio Pontificia)[1] were among the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian Peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia (after which the Papal States, in less territorially extensive form, continued to exist until 1870).
The Papal States comprised territories under direct sovereign rule of the papacy, and at its height it covered most of the modern Italian regions of Romagna, Marche, Umbria and Lazio. This governing power is commonly called the temporal power of the Pope, as opposed to his ecclesiastical primacy.
The plural Papal States is usually preferred; the singular Papal State (equally correct since it was not a mere personal union) tends to be used (normally with lower-case letters) for the modern State of Vatican City, an enclave within Italy's national capital, Rome. The Vatican City was founded in 1929, again allowing the Holy See the political benefits of territorial sovereignty.
Popemobile (Italian: Papamobile) is an informal name for the specially designed motor vehicles used by the pope during outdoor public appearances without having to employ the antiquated and often impractical sedia gestatoria.
Image 10The Loggia of the Casino of Pius IV, a Renaissance building located in the Vatican Gardens. The Casino of Pius IV was built in the mid-16th century by architect Pirro Ligorio for Pope Pius IV. (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 30Torre San Giovanni, on an ancient wall originally built by Pope Nicholas III. The tower fell into disuse in the 16th century but was rebuilt in the early 1960s by Pope John XXIII. (from Gardens of 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 40The 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 49Pope Pius XI decree and conferment of Saint Therese of France to be Patroness of the gardens, flanked by Cardinal Louis Billot. The Leonine walls, 17 May 1927. (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 50The Fountain of the Eagle "Fontana dell'Aquilone" in the Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
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