Vatican City Is an Enclave in Rome, and the World's Smallest Country

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Vatican City is an enclave in Rome, and the world’s smallest country.

Vatican City is a city-state and an enclave. An enclave is a territory that is completely surrounded by a separate country. Vatican City is located entirely within the city of Rome, Italy. within another famous city. Vatican City is one of only three enclaves that are also countries. The other two are San Marino, which is also in Italy, and Lesotho, in South Africa. Vatican City is the world’s smallest country: it is less than one-fifth of one square mile. It has only 825 people, making it the world’s smallest country by population, as well.

Vatican City is the home to the seat of authority for the Catholic Church, called the Holy See. It is a monarchy, and the pope, who is the head of the Catholic Church, has complete authority. A new pope is elected by church leaders when the old pope dies or resigns. Vatican City has one of the only elected, non-hereditary monarchies in the world. The current pope is Pope Francis. He gained his position after Pope Benedict XVI resigned in 2013. As an important spiritual leader, Pope Francis is often in the news.

Vatican City has its own passports, stamps, and post office, which is said to be more reliable than the Italian postal service right outside its borders. Vatican City gets about 5 million visitors each year. The economy depends on tourists, who spend money on souvenirs and museum tickets.

The main plaza, St. Peter’s Square, is on the edge of Vatican City, separated from Rome by a white line marking the border. A tall, pyramid-shaped monument, or obelisk, sits in the center of the square. The obelisk was taken from Egypt by a Roman emperor about 2,000 years ago. St. Peter’s Basilica, the domed building in the square, is the largest church in the world. It is supposedly the burial site of St. Peter, who was the first pope. The basilica was built between 1506 and 1626, but a church has stood on this site since the 4th century CE.

For more than 1,000 years, popes controlled a large section of northern Italy, known as the Papal States. But in the late 19th century, the Kingdom of Italy captured the area. In 1870, Italy took over Rome, but Pope Pius IX and the popes who came after him refused to accept Italy’s authority and remained inside the Vatican. In 1929, Italy’s leader, Benito Mussolini, signed a treaty to make Vatican City an independent state. Pope Pius XI was the first ruler of Vatican City.

Unlike other countries, none of Vatican City’s citizens are born there. Most work for the Holy See, and when they stop, they lose their citizenship. Because of these strange rules, almost all of Vatican City’s citizens are men. In 2011, only 32—about 5 percent—were women.

Many of Vatican City’s citizens are clergymen. Others are members of the Pontifical Swiss Guard. They are the pope’s bodyguards and Vatican City’s military. The Swiss Guard was started in 1506. As its name suggests, members have to be from Switzerland. They also must be unmarried men between the ages of 19 and 30. The traditional red, blue, orange, and yellow uniform was designed in 1914 and inspired by Renaissance clothing.

Vatican City houses some of Europe’s greatest artworks. The Sistine Chapel is famous for its frescoes, painted directly on the walls and ceiling. The artist Michelangelo spent four years, from 1508 to 1512, painting scenes from the Bible on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. To do this, he built a platform to stand on, near the top of the chapel. He used bright colors that were easy to see from the ground. Michelangelo also created the famous sculpture called the Pietà, which is in St. Peter’s Basilica. “Pietà” means “pity.” This sculpture shows Jesus after he was killed, lying on his mother, Mary’s, lap.