Portal:Vatican City

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Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State (Italian: Stato della Città del Vaticano; Latin: Status Civitatis Vaticanae), is a landlocked country, city-state, microstate, and enclave surrounded by, and historically a part of, Rome, Italy. It became independent from Italy in 1929 with the Lateran Treaty, and is a distinct territory under "full ownership, exclusive dominion, and sovereign authority and jurisdiction" of the Holy See, which is itself a sovereign entity under international law, maintaining the city-state's temporal power, governance, diplomatic, and spiritual independence. The Vatican is also a metonym for the pope, the Holy See, and the Roman Curia.

With an area of 49 hectares (121 acres) and a population of about 764 (as of 2023), it is the smallest sovereign state in the world both by area and by population. It is also among the least populated capitals in the world. As governed by the Holy See, Vatican City State is an ecclesiastical or sacerdotal-monarchical state ruled by the Pope, who is the bishop of Rome and head of the Catholic Church. The highest state functionaries are all Catholic clergy of various origins. After the Avignon Papacy (1309–1377) the popes have mainly resided at the Apostolic Palace within what is now Vatican City, although at times residing instead in the Quirinal Palace in Rome or elsewhere. (Full article...)

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.va is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the State of the Vatican City. It is administered by the Internet Office of the Holy See.

There are 23 easily found names starting with "www" in the va zone, listed below. There are many more subdomains for email only^[1]

Second-level domains are not available to the public.

Name and email servers within the .va namespace include john.vatican.va (DNS and email), michael.vatican.va (DNS), paul.vatican.va (email), lists.vatican.va (email), and vatiradio.va (email).

Strangely enough, some offsite secondary DNS servers used by the Vatican are named after Egyptian gods, like:

seth.namex.it.
osiris.namex.it.

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The Vatican post office has operated its own postal service and issued its own postage stamps since 1929. Pictured is the stamp vending machine of the Vatican Postal Service.

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The following are images from various Vatican City-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Pope Francis in Vatican City, 2021 (from Vatican City)
Image 2A souvenir shop on the roof of St. Peter's Basilica (from Economy of Vatican City)
Image 3Pope Pius XI decree and conferment of Saint Therese of France to be Patroness of the gardens, flanked by Cardinal Louis Billot. The Leonine walls, 17 May 1927. (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 4Image of the United Nations member state borders on a map (from Vatican City)
Image 5The crowds of tourists in St. Peter's Square are a target for pickpockets. (from Crime in Vatican City)
Image 6Territory of Vatican City State according to the Lateran Treaty (from Vatican City)
Image 7The Apostolic Palace (Palazzo Apostolico), the official residence of the Pope. Here, Benedict XVI is at the window marked by a maroon banner hanging from the windowsill at centre. (from Vatican City)
Image 8Map of Vatican City, highlighting notable buildings and the Vatican gardens (from Vatican City)
Image 9Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 10Enlargeable, detailed map of Vatican City (from Geography of Vatican City)
Image 11View of St. Peter's Square from the top of Michelangelo's dome (from Vatican City)
Image 12Empress Saint Helena of Constantinople carrying the One True Cross laying the grounds for the gardens using the sacred soil from Mount Calvary. (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 13Vatican Museums' "New Wing", built by Raffaele Stern (1774–1820) (from Vatican City)
Image 14Polish ambassador to the Vatican, Kazimierz Papée, was critical of Pius XII's pre-war mediation efforts. (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 15The Vatican obelisk in St. Peter's Square was brought to Rome from Egypt by Caligula. (from Vatican City)
Image 16The Ingresso di Sant'Anna, an entrance to Vatican City from Italy (from Vatican City)
Image 17The Vatican City came into existence in 1929, a decade before the start of World War II (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 18St. Peter's Basilica is one of the most renowned works of Renaissance architecture. (from Vatican City)
Image 19A guard of the Vatican at his sentry box (from Vatican City)
Image 20Map of Vatican City (from Geography of Vatican City)
Image 21Bernardino Nogara, the chief Vatican financier during the war (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 22Pay phone in the Vatican City (from Vatican City)
Image 23The crowds of tourists in St. Peter's Square are a target for pickpockets. (from Vatican City)
Image 24The Vatican's post office was established on 11 February 1929. (from Vatican City)
Image 25Gendarmerie car (from Vatican City)
Image 26The Italian peninsula in 1796. The Papal States in central Italy are coloured purple. (from Vatican City)
Image 27A monument to Fr. Maximilian Kolbe, among the estimated 3,000 members (18%) of the Polish clergy who were killed by the Nazis; of these, 1,992 died in concentration camps. (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 28The shortest national railway system in the world (from Vatican City)
Image 29Members of the Canadian Royal 22nd Regiment in audience with Pope Pius XII, following the 1944 Liberation of Rome. (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 30Musicians of the British Army's 38th (Irish) Brigade playing in front of St. Peter's Basilica in June 1944 (from Vatican City)
Image 31Part of the Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 32Armenian cross monument (Khatchkar) inside the Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 33A view of the Gardens of Vatican City (from Geography of Vatican City)
Image 34President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama meet with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on July 10, 2009. (from Women in Vatican City)
Image 35One possible modern interpretation (from Vatican City)
Image 36The Fountain of the Eagle "Fontana dell'Aquilone" in the Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 37Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 38Palace of the Governorate of Vatican City State (from Vatican City)
Image 39An early interpretation of the relative locations of the circus, and the medieval and current Basilicas of St. Peter (from Vatican City)
Image 40Palace of the Governorate of Vatican City State (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 41Cesare Orsenigo (left, with Hitler and Ribbentrop), nuncio to Germany, also served as de facto nuncio to Poland. (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 42The Seal of Vatican City. Note the use of the Italian language. (from Vatican City)
Image 43An ATM in Vatican City with Latin instructions (from Economy of Vatican City)

Did you know?

... that the Vatican selected Mary Milligan in 1987 to be one of only three U.S. experts to assist the International Synod of Bishops on the Laity in Rome?
... that a Vatican Hebrew manuscript has been used as a source for analysing and emending modern editions of the Palestinian Talmud?
... that some Catholics considered Tom Lehrer's "The Vatican Rag" (audio featured) to be blasphemous?
... that Antiqua et nova is a Vatican document that expresses serious ethical concerns surrounding the usage of artificial intelligence?
... that sport in Vatican City has included cricket, calcio fiorentino, and taekwondo?
... that the Second Vatican Council tried to undo the latinization of Eastern Catholic liturgy?