Vatican City State

Cultural  

1. Tiny independent nation within Rome, Italy, located on the Vatican Hill, on the west bank of the Tiber River; often called the Vatican.

---

Discover More

The relations of the United States with the Vatican have been controversial. For years, the United States had a diplomatic representative there without the rank of ambassador, but in the middle 1980s, the United States established full diplomatic relations with the Vatican.

The Sistine Chapel and Saint Peter's Basilica are located here.

With a total area of less than a fifth of a square mile, it is often considered the world's smallest country.

It is home to the pope and central administration of the Roman Catholic Church. The pope maintains complete legal, executive, and judicial powers. The Vatican was established in the 1920s by a treaty between the pope and the Italian government.

Example Sentences

Those with the best seats are Javier Milei, president of Argentina, where Francis was from, and Italy's prime minister and president, representing the country that surrounds the Vatican City state.

From BBC

Nearby, people slowly ambled down Via della Conciliazione – the pedestrian street that connects Italy and the Vatican city state, and the same one the Pope's coffin will travel down on Saturday as he reaches his final place of rest in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

From BBC

Years after naming him as camerlengo, in 2023, Francis chose Farrell as president of the Supreme Court of Vatican City State.

From BBC

Neither the Vatican spokesman nor Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, the president of the Vatican City State administration which controls the museums, responded to an email seeking comment.

From Seattle Times

From the start, defense lawyers have asserted that the Vatican City State’s legal code has deprived their clients of basic rights afforded defendants in other modern countries.

From Washington Times