Fast Facts:
- Named for: Vagitanus or the vagiti, the cry of a baby (Etruscan, maybe)
- Capital: The Pope’s house at One Pope Lane
- Long/Lat: 41.5 N/12.2 E, 6200 miles or 12 hours east of Castro Valley
- Population: 882 and not a single cardinal more or less. 1% of CV.
- Size: 0.19 sq mi, 1% of CV.
- Avg temp in April: 70 F/20 C, very pleasant
- Median household income: $20,000? but stats not published. Free room and board.
- Ethnicity: Not published, but likely more diverse than expected. Only one religion, though.
- Main industries: Proselytizing. Plus the merch!
Vatican City was originally a swamp. It’s located on the less breezy side of the Tiber, near Rome’s original arch enemy, the Etruscans. It was named either for a baby’s cry or for auspices drawn by the way birds fly or the way a liver appeared, which was (ironically) a significant part of Roman religious practices. Still, it was a marsh, dismal and ominous. Like the Bayou–popes were born on the bayou (with apologies to CCR).
Unlike some of these other countries, you probably have heard of it because it’s a Jeopardy question. What’s the smallest country in the world? Vatican City is also a true enclave, a country entirely contained within another country, along with San Marino and Lesotho and almost Eswatini (remember letter E?) It should not seem so strange for Vatican City to be its own country, considering that Rome itself used to be a “country,” not to mention an “empire” that would span more than 40 countries today if it still existed.
Back in the 20 C.E.s, Agrippina the Elder–go watch I Claudius and you can sort out those early Roman imperial families–Agrippina drained the swamp and put in a country estate with gardens. Her son, Caligula, had the gardens expanded when he was emperor. His sister’s son Emperor Nero put in a circus, i.e., an arena, specifically for chariot racing. There was another Circus Maximus closer to the heart of ancient Rome, but Nero liked lots of places for spectacle.
Christ was crucified during the reign of Tiberius, either in 30 or 33 C.E. His followers began to grow, as the apostles started telling stories about him, writing gospels and the like. Peter was part of that group, and Paul, who had been converted on the Road to Damascus. Without delving too far into early history, let’s just say that the Romans were tolerant of religions in concept, as long as the groups didn’t meet in secret and publicly supported sacrifice to the gods and so on. Christian refused, so the Romans began to imprison and execute Christians who refused to go along.
So, in 64 C.E., when Nero decided to play with his lighter and his lyre, “fiddling as Rome burned,” he blamed the Christians. Several were rounded up and executed/martyred, including Peter and Paul, on the spot of the Vatican circus. Peter was crucified, according to legend/history, upside-down. Paul, who was a Roman citizen, was beheaded. Most importantly, Peter was per Christian legend/history buried on Vatican Hill somewhere. Paul was buried outside the city; Holy Roman Emperor and Top Christian Guy Constantine built a church on that spot.
Over time, the Vatican area developed, but slowly. Caligula brought back the obelisk, which sits in St. Peter’s Square today, from Egypt. There also shrines to Roman deities, like Cybele and Attis. After Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, he ordered the construction of the Basilica for St. Peter in 326 although the exact whereabouts of the bones is something of a mystery.
Constantine converted a different place for use of the popes, the Lateran Palace at a different location. The seat of the Roman Empire was moved to Constantinople, but the Church developed a process of assigning a pope, Bishop of Rome, and that person stayed in Rome. Early bishop/popes like Linus and Anacletus began growing the Christian domain (empire/holdings/dioceses whatever you want to call them). They called them the papal states and issued orders, excommunications, bulls, Crusades, and whatnot. The Basilica or Church of Saint Peter stayed much the same from the 300s until the 1500s.
The construction of the modern Saint Peter’s took over a century, designed collectively by Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, and Carlo Maderno. Despite the continued religious divisions that occurred with Martin Luther and so on, the Church was able to build out from the Basilica to the 120 acre complex that exists today. Once a small group of rebels, by the middle of the Renaissance could finance construction of multiple buildings and extensive gardens, flanked by some of the most magnificent artwork in the world.
Vatican City as a sovereign state was part of an agreement with Italy. When Italy first unified in 1870, the government took much of the church’s property and holdings, even as it pledged not to interfere with religious practices. Between 1871 and 1929, the popes and church workers stayed within the walls of the mini-enclave, while the Italian government built its own Roman palace and structures outside. The popes refused to leave, but the government did not grant them any political status.
In 1929, under Victor Emmanuel III and his prime minister, Mussolini, a treaty was created between Italy and the Vatican, establishing the boundaries and granting Vatican City its sovereign status.
Sovereign state–the more technical term for what I’ve been loosely calling a country–means the people within its borders make political decisions. They choose their own leaders, are not subject to a higher authority, make treaties with other groups, and manage their own military protection. Hence, Vatican City contracts with the “Swiss guards.”
This sovereign state holds a few surprises. First, Vatican City doesn’t want to be a part of the United Nation. They aren’t recognized for UN membership by their choice, mainly because they don’t want to abide some UN rules. Technically, Vatican City still acts as a country for international legal purposes, and the Holy See is a UN observer, just not a member state.
Secondly, the population of Vatican City or the citizenry is not based on birthright status but tied to a job. It’s also fluid. Technically, it would include all the cardinals and people who work there, but cardinals are often in other countries, where they manage their own dioceses.
They’re only all in Vatican City every now and then, for that conclave thing, when they get to choose the new leader of the band.