Vatican City

Vatican City State of the Holy See 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 For Holy See: Latin[note 1]
Government	Ecclesiastical; sacerdotal-monarchical; absolute monarchy;[1] elective monarchy;[2] elective theocracy.[3]
• 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
• 2024 estimate	526 (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[note 2]
Calling code	+379[4]
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.

The Vatican City of the Holy See (/ˈvætkən ˈsɪti/ (listen); officially the Vatican City State of the Holy See, Italian: Stato della Città del Vaticano)^[6] (also referred to as Vatica of the Holy See or simply the Vatican City, Vatica or the Holy See) is the smallest country in the world by size, at 0.49 km² and by population.^[7] It is also one of the world's three city-states.

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 the religion's and country's government Holy See. Its head of state or sovereign is the Pope which is, in religious contexts, 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.
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1. ↑ "Internet portal of Vatican City State". Vatican City State. Archived from the original on 24 May 2011. Retrieved 9 July 2011.
2. ↑ Gerhard Robbers, Encyclopedia of World Constitutions (Infobase Publishing 2006), p. 1009 ISBN 978-0-81606078-8
3. ↑ Nick Megoran, "Theocracy" in International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, vol. 11, Elsevier 2009, p.226| Quote:elective theocracy (although its representatives would be unlikely to accept that label) ISBN 978-0-08-044911-1
4. ↑ ITU-T assigned code 379 to Vatican City. However, Vatican City is included in the Italian telephone numbering plan and uses the Italian country code 39, followed by 06 (for Rome) and 698.
5. ↑ www.vatican.va Holy See Press Office — General Information. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
6. ↑ "Stato della Città del Vaticano" is the name used in the text of the state's Fundamental Law and in the state's official website Archived 2013-12-04 at the Wayback Machine.
7. ↑ "Vatican City State - Homepage". Archived from the original on 2010-11-02. Retrieved 2009-07-22.