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Vatican City

VA / VAT   41.9°, 12.5°

Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State, often shortened as the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state in Southern Europe. 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.

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People are called
Vatican
Driving side
Right
Calling code
+39
Capital
Vatican City
Population
882
Area
0 km2
Climate
Temperate
Government
Ecclesiastical elective monarchy
Currency
Euro
Languages
Italian, Latin, French
Land borders
1: Italy
Drives on the
right
Calling code
+39
Founded
1929
Hemisphere
Northern

WHAT PEOPLE ARE CALLED

Vatican

These are English demonyms for people from Vatican City. A demonym describes a connection to a place; it does not mean everyone shares an ethnicity, language or religion.

Demonym source: mledoze/countries · Download the attributed dataset (ODbL)

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SAME LAND, DIFFERENT WORLDS

Civilizations, flags & standards

Modern borders are a starting point for exploring the past. These cultures and states occupied some of the same land; they were not the same country. Dates describe each civilization or state as a whole, not continuous rule over every place listed.

A sourced civilization and flag trail has not been added for Vatican City yet. No ancient flag is inferred from the modern one.

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Turning points

A curated timeline is not available yet. Explore the country's history and the historical figures below.

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Religion: state & society

An official religion is a legal status. The largest religious group is a population measure. Neither describes every person's beliefs.

Official status and a dated affiliation breakdown have not been checked for this country. The atlas's religion tags are not a population ranking.

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Languages

Share of the population that speaks each. Click one to see every country that speaks it.

Italianofficial
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Latinofficial
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Frenchofficial
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What it sells, and to whom

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Largest cities

Vatican City  capital 829

Form of government

Ecclesiastical elective monarchy.

Climate and geography

temperate; mild, rainy winters (September to May) with hot, dry summers (May to September)

Climate zone

Highest point

Landlocked. Northern hemisphere.

Land borders (1)

Figures from its history

John Paul II
John Paul II Pope, 1978-2005 Pope John Paul II was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death in 2005.
Francis Pope, 2013-2025
Michelangelo
Michelangelo Painter of the Sistine Chapel Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance.

Corrected in an AI-assisted review of the imported data (2026-09-22), not yet checked against a named source: calling code, currencies, famous, past leaders.