Vatican City

Vatican City is an independent city-state enclosed by Rome, home of the pope and the central government of the Catholic Church. With an area of 0.49 km² (0.19 sq mi), it is the smallest country in the world, an absolute monarchy whose ruler is elected for life.

Catholic tradition holds that Saint Peter was crucified on Vatican Hill in the 1st century, and Emperor Constantine's basilica was built over his supposed tomb in 326. For more than a thousand years popes governed the Papal States across central Italy, which grew from a gift of Frankish territory in 756. They lived mostly at the Lateran Palace and from 1309 to 1377 in Avignon, settling at the Vatican after the return to Rome. The Kingdom of Italy took Rome in 1870, and the popes stayed within the Vatican walls.

That dispute ended on 11 February 1929, when Cardinal Pietro Gasparri and Benito Mussolini signed the Lateran Treaty, which created the state in its modern form; a new concordat with Italy followed in 1984. The Holy See stayed neutral in World War II, and both German and Allied troops respected its border while they held Rome. The College of Cardinals chooses each pope in a conclave, and he hands lawmaking to the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State. The Pontifical Swiss Guard, founded by Julius II in 1506, protects him, while Italy provides military defense.

The whole territory was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1984. Within its walls stand St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, the Apostolic Palace, the Vatican Library and the Vatican Museums, whose admission fees, together with sales of stamps, coins and publications, fund the state budget. It adopted the euro in 1999, mints its own euro coins and runs the .va internet domain, and a short railway links it to the Italian network. The obelisk in St. Peter's Square, brought from Egypt by Caligula, was moved to its present spot in 1586.