Interesting Facts About Vatican City

1. Vatican City is the smallest country in the world. 

Encircled by a 2-mile border with Italy, Vatican City is an independent city-state that covers just over 100 acres,   making it one-   eighth the size of New York’s Central Park. Vatican City is governed as an absolute monarchy with the pope at its head. The Vatican    mints its own euros, prints its own stamps, issues passports and license plates, operates media outlets and has its own flag and       anthem. One government function it lacks: taxation. Museum admission fees, stamp and souvenir sales, and contributions generate the    Vatican’s revenue.

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2. The Vatican City issues its own passports; the Pope, cardinals, members of the Swiss guard and clergy being the recipients.

3. The Vatican City is a UNESCO World Heritage Site; the only site to encompass a whole country.

4. St. Peter’s Basilica sits atop a city of the dead, including its namesake’s tomb.

   A Roman necropolis stood on Vatican Hill in pagan times. When a great fire leveled much of Rome in A.D. 64, Emperor Nero, seeking    to shift blame from himself, accused the Christians of starting the blaze. He executed them by burning them at the stake, tearing    them apart with wild beasts and crucifying them. Among those crucified was St. Peter—disciple of Jesus Christ, leader of the    Apostles and the first bishop of Rome—who was supposedly buried in a shallow grave on Vatican Hill. ![1-st-peters-square-1.jpg]()By the fourth century and    official recognition of the Christian religion in Rome, Emperor Constantine began construction of the original basilica atop the    ancient burial ground with what was believed to be the tomb of St. Peter at its center. The present basilica, built starting in the    1500s, sits over a maze of catacombs and St. Peter’s suspected grave.

5. Italians are allowed to donate 8% of their yearly taxes to the Vatican (this is instead of paying it to the Italian Government).In 2007 the Vatican opted to become the first Carbon neutral state by offsetting their carbon footprint with the creation of a    forest in Hungary.

6. For nearly 60 years in the 1800s and 1900s, popes refused to leave the Vatican.

   Popes ruled over a collection of sovereign Papal States throughout central Italy until the country was unified in 1870. The new    secular government had seized all the land of the Papal States with the exception of the small patch of the Vatican, and a cold war    of sorts then broke out between the church and the Italian government. Popes refused to recognize the authority of the Kingdom of    Italy, and the Vatican remained beyond Italian national control. Pope Pius IX proclaimed himself a “prisoner of the Vatican,” and    for almost 60 years popes refused to leave the Vatican and submit to the authority of the Italian government. When Italian troops    were present in St. Peter’s Square, popes even refused to give blessings or appear from the balcony overlooking the public space.

7. The Vatican museums are over 9 miles (14,5 kilometers) long, and it is said that if you spent only 1 minute admiring each painting    it would take you 4 years to complete the circuit!![museums.jpg]()The Vatican stamps its own coins. The €1 coin which has a portrait of the present    Pope is in high demand with collectors.

8. The majority of Vatican City’s 600 citizens live abroad.

   As of 2011, the number of people with Vatican citizenship totaled 594. That number included 71 cardinals, 109 members of the Swiss    Guard, 51 members of the clergy and one nun inside the Vatican walls. The largest group of citizens, however, was the 307 members    of the clergy in diplomatic positions around the world. With Benedict XVI residing as a pope emeritus in the Vatican, the       population will increase by one when a new pope is named.

9. The Vatican Observatory owns a telescope in Arizona.

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10.1 The Pope is an elected non-hereditary monarch and has complete judicial, executive and legislative control over the Vatican State-which means he is at present the only absolute monarch in Europe

.2 The balcony upon which the newly elected Pope stands is called "Loggia of the Benediction", it is from here that many millions         around the world hear the first blessing "Urbi et Orbi" , to the city and the world.

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  .3 Is it true that some Popes have fathered children? 

     Yes, many, too numerous to mention here! Pope Innocence VIII had eight! It is also rumored that Christopher Columbus was also the      son of the errant Pope. It's thanks to Pope Innocence that Columbus received the funding for his trip to the new world.

11.The Swiss Guard was hired as a mercenary force.Established in 1506 by Pope Julius II the Pontifical Swiss Guard (Vatican guard)    were originally employed as personal bodyguards to the Pope, at present they serve as the military force of the Vatican.

   To be a Swiss guard one must be: at least 1,74m (5'8.5'') in height, Male, Catholic, between the ages of 19 and 30, have completed    basic training in the Swiss military, and of course, be Swiss.

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