Line #6 UsefulNotes/VaticanCity


1	[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vatican-city-map_7962.gif]]
2	[[caption-width-right:330:[[ICanSeeMyHouseFromHere I can see the Basilica from here!]] [[note]][[RunningGag And Italy!]][[/note]]]]
3
4	->''"If you hack the Vatican's servers, are you tampering in God's domain?"''
5	-->--'''Aaron Allston'''
6
7	Vatican City, officially known as Vatican City State ('''Italian:''' ''Stato della Città del Vaticano'', '''Latin:''' ''Status Civitatis Vaticanae''), is the world's smallest country, a sovereign Southern European city-state located entirely within UsefulNotes/{{Italy}}'s capital city, UsefulNotes/{{Rome}}. Created by the Lateran Treaties of 1929, it had a previous, and far more powerful incarnation - UsefulNotes/ThePapalStates. It is perhaps the only currently existing RealLife example of TheTheocracy as well as one of the most famous examples of a HolyCity. It is also unique in the modern world in having Latin as its official language[[note]]Technically, Latin is the official language of the Holy See, the Christian body which oversees the administration of the city-state[[/note]], though its newspaper, ''L'Osservatore Romano'', is published primarily in Italian.
8
9	The country is ruled by UsefulNotes/ThePope, who's also the ruler of the Holy See, that is, the government of the Roman Catholic Church whose influence extends far outside the city's walls. This makes the pope one of the Roman Catholic religious leaders that also leads a country, the other being the Bishop of Urgell of UsefulNotes/{{Andorra}}. While Castel Gandolfo (the former summer residence of the pope and now a museum) and other places belong to the church, they are ''not'' as is often assumed exclaves of the Vatican in any diplomatic sense. However, Italy does not usually press the matter, so the point is moot for all but geography nerds.
10
11	The Holy See (''not'' the Vatican as a state which is member of jack squat) is not a member of the UsefulNotes/UnitedNations, but has Permanent Observer status. Remarkably, this situation is the result of the Church's sense of honor: since the UN holds freedom and democracy as one of its highest values, and the Vatican is neither free nor democratic (as it is technically an absolute monarchy and all its inhabitants are either clergy, administrators, or Swiss Guards oath-bound to obey the Pope), it declines full membership out of honesty. This isn't to say that the Church is opposed to freedom or democracy -- quite the opposite -- but that the Vatican works best as it is, and nobody complains (it is the only state in the world where everyone who lives there has made an active and completely voluntary choice to do so).
12
13	For very obvious reasons, no one can be a natural born citizen of Vatican City. There ''are'' a handful of families — the family of disappeared teen Emanuela Orlandi, subject of a 2022 Netflix documentary, for example — who are multi-generational Vatican citizens, living in the City State for over 100 years and serving multiple Popes, who fall under the Vatican policy of ''jus officii'', where citizenship is granted only to those (and their spouse/children) who have an official position and therefore a reason to be there. In the off chance of, say, a pregnant tourist going into labor and delivering without being able to be transported to a Roman hospital, a child born in that position would be considered to be born in Italy. As Italy itself does not grant primary citizenship based on birthplace (''jus soli''), the child's citizenship would be governed by the relevant laws of his/her parent's home country. The legal fiction of a Vatican child being a born Italian was established as an ObviousRulePatch, in case such a child were born to stateless parents, in order to give the child a citizenship of last resort; Italy doesn't grant ''primary'' citizenship based on birthplace, but a child can claim Italian citizenship if he/she is not otherwise entitled to any other.
14
15	Vatican City also does not participate in UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion, its income primarily consisting of contributions from believers around the world, as well as its tourist sector, although it uses the Euro as currency and has a deal with the EU to mint - highly sought after - "Vatican Euros".[[note]] The same goes for UsefulNotes/{{Monaco}} and UsefulNotes/SanMarino but not for UsefulNotes/{{Kosovo}} and UsefulNotes/{{Montenegro}}, which use the Euro unilaterally. Andorra until 2014 used the Euro without minting its own coins but has since signed a treaty with the EU to that effect[[/note]]
16
17	The smallest city/state devotes much of its money back outside, often leaving it slightly in the red. While it gained $355.5 million in revenue in 2008, it spent $356.8 million. Vatican City does house a vast and priceless collection of art collected over its multi-millennial existence, but chooses to keep the treasures for all to see; else, a private collector could buy and shut it away forever.
18
19	Please note that you must dress appropriately to enter.[[note]]No shorts, no sandals or flip-flops, skirts must be knee-length or below, shirts must have sleeves and not be too low-cut, and women should cover or at least tie their hair.[[/note]]
20
21	Nowadays, the city-state mainly serves as the administrative capital of Catholicism and a ''major'' religious tourist destination. In an example of the perfidy of statistics, it has the world's highest per-capita crime rate, of 1.5 crimes per capita.[[note]]Pickpockets from the rest of Rome are very active in the crowded St Peter's Square, and the Vatican has a tiny resident population - leading to the statistical oddity.[[/note]]
22
23	A common misnomer: while Vatican City is surrounded by Rome, the religion's official name is simply the "Catholic Church". The term "Roman" (or "Latin") just defines one of the rites, or liturgical practices, of a bulk of their followers. There are numerous Eastern Catholic churches (e.g. the Ukrainian Catholic Church, the Maronite Catholic Church, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Armenian Catholic Church, the Assyrian Catholic Church...), which use various non-Latin rites: namely, the Byzantine Rite (broadly similar to the Eastern Orthodox liturgy), Alexandrian Rite (broadly similar to the Oriental Orthodox), the Antiochan/West Syrian Rite, and the East Syrian Rite. There are also variant Latin/Western rites, including the Ambrosian Rite (still used in Milan), the Mozarabic Rite (formerly used by the Catholics of Muslim Spain), the Sarum Rite (formerly used in England), and the Anglican Use (used by congregations which were once Anglo-Catholic--i.e. Catholicizing members of the Anglican Communion--who decided to have done with it already and join the Catholic Church, but retained the Anglican liturgy). Despite following different rites, believers of these churches recognize the Pope as their leader (that's what "Catholic" means in Latin: ''universal'').
24
25	Note that Vatican City is, officially, ''not'' considered a continuation of the Papal States. It was created in the Lateran Treaty of 1929 between the Papacy and UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini, which [[InsistentTerminology made it a point to emphasize]] that the Papal States had ceased to exist, and "Vatican City" was a new creation.
26
27	St. Peter's Basilica is the focal point of Vatican City. Built in the early 16th century to replace the previous St. Peter's, it is the largest church on Earth. St. Peter's, however, is ''not'' the Cathedral for the Diocese of Rome as it does not house the Bishop's throne. That honor instead belongs to the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran , which is located about 4km northwest of the Vatican.
28
29	Vatican City is the only nation in the world that can lock its own gates at night. It has its own phone company, radio, T.V. stations, money, and stamps. It even has its own army, the historic [[PraetorianGuard Swiss Guard]].
30	----
31	!!Notable art at the Vatican:
32
33	* Art/RaphaelRooms
34	* Art/SistineChapel
35	* Vatican Museums:
36	** ''Art/LaocoonAndHisSons''
37
38	!!The Vatican in fiction:
39
40	Tends to overlap with the fictional section of the [[UsefulNotes/ThePope Pope]] page, for obvious reasons.
41
42	[[foldercontrol]]
43
44	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
45	* ''Manga/BlueExorcist'' has the Knight of the True Cross's headquarters under Vatican City. Or Rome, to be accurate...
46	* ''Manga/CesareIlCreatoreCheHaDistrutto'' and its [[Theatre/CesareIlCreatoreCheHaDistrutto musical adaptation]] focus on Cesare Borgia in school in Pisa in the year before his father's election, but both show the cardinals in the Vatican in major subplots, and both accurately depict the Sistine Chapel pre-Michelangelo, though in the musical, [[UsefulNotes/PopeJuliusII Giuliano della Rovere]] sees the murals he would someday commission in a vision during his [[AntiVillain Anti-]] VillainSong. Near the end of the manga, after Pope Alexander VI has just been elected, he discusses the sorts of art he wants to commission to decorate his rooms in the Vatican.
47	* ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'': Features an attack on the Vatican by a New Age cult, and later includes a cameo of Pope John Paul II (yes, they actually refers to him directly as Papa Joannes Paulus Secundus, lawsuits be damned) authorizing a ''crusade'' to reconquer England.
48	* In ''Manga/TheLegendOfKoizumi'', Koizumi meets Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican for [[MundaneMadeAwesome a truly epic mahjong match]].
49	[[/folder]]
50
51	[[folder:Comic Books]]
52	* Heavily featured in the Italian satirical comic ''Ninja Nuns'', whose protagonists work as the Church's troubleshooters and have been busy protecting the Vatican ever since [[ItMakesSenseInContext the surprise Gay Pride started with the election of the new Pope was suddenly zombified]].
53	[[/folder]]
54
55	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
56	* Featured in ''Film/TwoThousandTwelve'' as part of the mandatory MonumentalDamage, starting with cracks in Michelangelo's ''The Creation of Adam'' fresco in the Sistine Chapel (specifically, [[RuleOfSymbolism between God's and Adam's hands]]) and ending with the dome of St. Peter's Basilica falling down and running over the crowd like a bowling ball.
57	* ''Film/TheAgonyAndTheEcstasy'', which tells the story of the creation of the Art/SistineChapel's ceiling fresco paintings and the feud between Creator/MichelangeloBuonarroti and his patron, UsefulNotes/PopeJuliusII.
58	* In ''Film/DonCamilloMonsignor'', Don Camillo becomes a ''Monsignore'' (bishop) and is briefly seen at the Vatican at the beginning.
59	* In the climax of ''Film/{{Eurotrip}}'', Scotty and his friends enter the Vatican to try to meet Scotty's prospective love interest Mieke, who is on a tour there. Leads to hilarity like Scotty accidentally ringing a bell that signals the Pope had died.
60	* The central story ''[[Film/TheGodfather The Godfather: Part III]]'' gravitates around a struggle between TheMafia and Vatican bankers, with the Pope (a reformist man) caught in the middle. Many scenes take place in the city.
61	%%* Burgled by Creator/BruceWillis in ''Film/HudsonHawk''.
62	* ''Film/MissionImpossibleIII'': Ethan decides to infiltrate the Vatican in order to abduct an arms dealer whose been avoiding the IMF for years after an email indicating he's going to be at an event there is recovered by Benji. Luther points out that the security is going to make this plan a bigger nightmare than stealing from Langley, but they manage to pull it off anyway.
63	%%* ''The Scarlet and the Black''
64	* In ''Film/Sin2019'', Michelangelo Buonarroti is seen working (or rather taking a break from working) on the Sistine Chapel's ceiling frescos. Then he dreams of UsefulNotes/PopeJuliusII's death, which happens for real when he wakes up and rushes to the Pope's apartments.
65	* In ''Film/VanHelsing'' there is a secret society made up of members of many religions and nations who fight to protect mankind from evil; its base of operations is underground, just beneath St. Peter's Basilica.
66	[[/folder]]
67
68	[[folder:Literature]]
69	* ''Literature/AngelsAndDemons'' (the film as well), where ritual murders surrounding the election of a new pope are central to the story. The murders actually take place in Rome, but the climax takes place in the Vatican City.
70	* In ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'', the Vatican occasionally appears, as the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope are major characters. [[spoiler:Eventually, Fiamma of the Right decides the city and the Pope have outlived their usefulness to his plans and tries to wipe it off the map. The Pope manages to contain the blast so that there is minimal damage to the city (though St. Peter's Basilica gets destroyed) at the cost of his body being left in critical condition, and Fiamma leaves.]]
71	* Some early events of ''Literature/TheGenesisCode'' take place in the offices of the Vatican's bureaucracy.
72	* ''Literature/TrinityBlood'' has the Vatican becoming the dominant power in Western Europe about a thousand years after an apocalyptic war with vampires.
73	* The ''Vatican Secret Archives'' religious historical thriller series by Gary [=McAvoy=], which features as its primary character the Jesuit priest Father Michael Dominic. His work in the eponymous Vatican Secret Archives provides the central mystery of each novel.
74	[[/folder]]
75
76	[[folder:Live-Action Television]]
77	* ''Series/{{Borgia}}'' and ''Series/TheBorgias'', as it covers the infamous history of UsefulNotes/PopeAlexanderVI and his family.
78	* ''Series/PennAndTellerBullshit'' had an episode dedicated to calling out the Vatican.
79	* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' establishes that the Vatican, as well as the Pope and the Catholic Church by extension, are still around in the 22nd century, as Phlox's study of Earth religions includes attending a mass service at St. Peter's Square.
80	%%* ''Series/TheTudors''
81	[[/folder]]
82
83	[[folder:Video Games]]
84	* ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'':
85	** The Vatican is the site of the final memory in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'', with the bulk of it taking place on the Passetto di Borgo and in the Art/SistineChapel. In [[ShownTheirWork a nod to history]], the Chapel's ceiling lacks its famous fresco painting, as the level takes place in the year 1499, before the fresco was painted.
86	** The sequel, ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood'', also features the Vatican prominently (what with the game being mostly set in Rome and all), and has you breaking in several times.
87	* ''VideoGame/SeriousSam4'' has a part set in Vatican City, where Sam finds a book leading to the location of the Holy Grail.
88	[[/folder]]
89
90	[[folder:Web Comics]]
91	* The Vatican's mentioned as a minor background character in ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'', primarily as an aging (and apparently grumpy) priest who's at odds with both Italies. And who has a grudge with England (see UsefulNotes/HenryVIII).
92	* The Vatican as represented in ''Webcomic/ScandinaviaAndTheWorld'' is portrayed as a kindly old man in popish garb (with his flag as his robe) who gets freaked out by the Scandinavians' Christmas traditions.
93	[[/folder]]
94
95	[[folder:Western Animation]]
96	* It's appeared at least twice in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', both times being the site of unsavory dealings (in the first appearance, Father Maxi attempts to confront the [[PedophilePriest pedophilia problem]] head on, only to accidentally destroy the building via a [[LoadBearingBoss Load Bearing Document]]; in the second, Bill Donohue of the American Catholic League, [[ItMakesSenseInContext in an attempt to cover up the fact that Jesus wanted the Pope to be a rabbit]], [[TheStarscream seizes the position of Pope from Benedict XVI]] when the latter [[EveryoneHasStandards refuses to kill Jesus Christ himself for not following the church]]; Jesus [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe in turn kills Donohue by splitting him in half with a glaive]]).
97	[[/folder]]
98	----
99	[[AC:The Vatican Flag]]
100	https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vatican_city_flag_9202.png
101	->Yellow and white are loosely based on the coat of arms, which is featured on the white half; the arms consist of a papal tiara above a pair of keys, colored silver and gold, representing the Pope's God-given authority over temporal and spiritual matters, respectively.
102	----
103	[[AC:The Vatican national anthem]]
104
105	->O felix Roma – o Roma nobilis:
106	->Sedes es Petri, qui Romae effudit sanguinem,
107	->Petri cui claves datae sunt regni caelorum.
108	->Pontifex, Tu successor es Petri;
109	->Pontifex, Tu magister es tuos confirmans fratres;
110	->Pontifex, Tu qui Servus servorum Dei,
111	->hominumque piscator, pastor es gregis,
112	->ligans caelum et terram.
113	->Pontifex, Tu Christi es Vicarius super terram,
114	->rupes inter fluctus, Tu es pharus in tenebris;
115	->Tu pacis es vindex, Tu es unitatis custos,
116	->vigil libertatis defensor; in Te potestas.
117
118	->Tu Pontifex, firma es petra, et super petram
119	->hanc aedificata est Ecclesia Dei.
120
121	->Pontifex, Tu Christi es Vicarius super terram,
122	->rupes inter fluctus, Tu es pharus in tenebris;
123	->Tu pacis es vindex, Tu es unitatis custos,
124	->vigil libertatis defensor; in Te potestas.
125
126	->O felix Roma – O Roma nobilis.
127	->O felix Roma – O Roma nobilis.
128
129	--
130
131	->O happy Rome - O noble Rome
132	->O happy Rome - happy and noble Rome
133	->You are the seat of Peter, who shed his blood in Rome,
134	->Peter, to whom the keys of the kingdom of heaven were given.
135	->Pontiff, You are the successor of Peter;
136	->Pontiff, You are the teacher, you confirm your brethren;
137	->Pontiff, You who are the Servant of the servants of God,
138	->and fisher of men, are the shepherd of the flock,
139	->linking heaven and earth.
140	->Pontiff, You are the vicar of Christ on earth,
141	->a rock amidst the waves, You are a beacon in the darkness;
142	->You are the defender of peace, You are the guardian of unity,
143	->watchful defender of liberty; in You is the authority.
144
145	->Pontiff, you are the unshakable rock, and on this rock
146	->was built the Church of God.
147
148	->Pontiff, You are the vicar of Christ on earth,
149	->a rock amidst the waves, You are a beacon in the darkness;
150	->You are the defender of peace, You are the guardian of unity,
151	->watchful defender of liberty; in You is the authority.
152
153	->O happy Rome - O noble Rome.
154	----
155	[[AC:Government]]
156	* Unitary Christian absolute monarchy (under an ecclesiastical and elective theocracy)
157	** Sovereign entity: Holy See
158	** Sovereign (Pope): Francis
159	** Secretary of State: Pietro Parolin
160	** President of the Governorate: Fernando Vérgez Alzaga
161	----
162	[[AC:Miscellaneous]]
163	* '''Capital and largest city:''' Vatican City
164	* '''Population:''' 825
165	* '''Area:''' 0.49 km
166	(0.19 sq mi) (194th; smallest)
167	* '''Currency:''' Euro (€) (EUR)
168	* '''ISO-3166-1 Code:''' VA
169	* '''Country calling code:''' 39
170	** The Vatican has been assigned the calling code 379, but does not use it, choosing instead to integrate its phone system with that of Italy.
171	* '''Highest point:''' Vatican Hill (71 m/233 ft) (196th)

Context UsefulNotes / VaticanCity