Vatican. The City-State of Vatican
Vatican. State - City of Vatican
An independent state and the center of the Roman Catholic Church, the residence of its head - the Pope. Located in the central part of Rome.
Area - 0.44 km². In Rome and its surroundings, the Vatican owns 3 cathedrals (St. Mary Major, St. John Lateran, and St. Paul Outside the Walls), several palaces and villas with a total area of 0.7 km². Near Rome, in the Castle of Castel Gandolfo, is the Pope's summer residence. The Vatican essentially has no permanent population. The Pope, the leaders of the Roman Curia, and the staff of Vatican institutions reside there. At the end of 2003, there were 2,674 employees in Vatican institutions, of whom 1,099 held religious office. During their service, Vatican employees are granted citizenship of the Holy See, and in cases of travel abroad (outside Italy), they are issued service or diplomatic passports of the Holy See. The official languages are Latin, French, and Italian. The currency is the euro. The papal state also mints euros featuring the Pope - the coin is primarily intended for numismatists.
Since December 1991, the Vatican has maintained official relations with the Russian Federation (official relations with the USSR at the representative level were established in March 1990).
Main state holidays: Christmas, Easter, and April 19 - the day of the election of Pope Benedict XVI at the conclave in 2005.
From the perspective of state structure, the Vatican is an absolute theocratic monarchy. The head of state is the Pope (since April 19, 2005 - Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger), a German cardinal). In the event of his death, the affairs of the Vatican are managed by the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church until a new Pope is elected. The Pope holds supreme legislative, executive, and judicial authority. His responsibilities include representing the Vatican in international relations, concluding, ratifying, and denouncing international treaties and concordats, receiving diplomatic representatives, and appointing Vatican representatives in other countries. The Pope is elected for life by the College of Cardinals. The election is generally conducted from among the cardinals by secret ballot with a majority of at least two-thirds of the votes.
The highest advisory bodies: the Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church, the College of Cardinals, and the Episcopal Synod. The Ecumenical (or Vatican) Council is convened periodically every few decades to discuss the most important church issues. The last council was convened from 1962 to 1965 (the 21st Ecumenical, or Second Vatican Council).
The College of Cardinals - an advisory body to the Pope - gathers to discuss the most important church matters and to elect the Pope. During the election of the Pope, the college is called a conclave, in which only cardinals under 80 years old, appointed by the Pope for life, may participate. The cardinalate consists of 183 cardinals. About one-third of the cardinals are part of the Roman Curia (the government of the Vatican), which concentrates practical leadership of the religious, political, and economic activities of the Vatican. The Roman Curia includes the Secretariat of State, 9 congregations (spiritual departments), 3 tribunals, 11 papal councils, 5 commissions, and other departments. The Secretary of State (head of government) since December 1990 has been Italian Cardinal A. Sodano.
Historically, the current Vatican became the successor to the Papal States, which existed from 756 (when the Frankish King Pepin the Short gifted Pope Stephen II Rome and several provinces in central Italy) until September 20, 1870 (when Italian troops entered the "eternal city" during the completion of the unification of the country and proclaimed it the capital of Italy). After a prolonged period of friction between the Italian government and the Holy See, the parties agreed to normalize relations, and on November 11, 1929, the Lateran Treaties (concordat) were signed, recognizing the sovereignty of the Vatican state. In 1984, Italy and the Vatican signed a new concordat. Unlike the previous one, which officially declared Catholicism the state religion, the new concordat formally grants Italians complete freedom of religion.
The Vatican's role in international politics and its influence in the world are based on a large number of Catholic believers—1.086 billion (2005). Of the total number of Catholics, nearly half - 49.8% live in America, 25.8% in Europe, 13.2% in Africa, 10.4% in Asia, and 0.8% in Australia and Oceania. Its policy is conveyed through the Catholic clergy (1.9 million clergy), about 2,000 religious orders, the largest of which are the Jesuits (26,000), Franciscans (45,000), Salesians, Capuchins, Benedictines, and Dominicans.
The Vatican also operates through so-called secular Catholic organizations: trade unions, cultural, youth, women's, and others. Many of these organizations are part of the conference of international Catholic organizations, whose work is coordinated by the Vatican's Secretariat of State. Many political parties in various Catholic countries around the world are under the influence of the Vatican.
The Vatican plays an active role in international relations, emphasizing its interest in the development of positive international processes, believing that a normal political climate in the world will create more favorable conditions for the activities of the Catholic Church and will contribute to enhancing its prestige on the international stage. The Vatican leadership takes constructive positions on key international issues, including the elimination of weapons of mass destruction, the resolution of regional conflicts, and environmental protection. The Vatican's focus is on the problems of the developing world (backwardness, poverty, hunger and destitution, unemployment), primarily in countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The Vatican has made a certain contribution to the development of the pan-European process, shows significant interest in the Middle Eastern peace process, the status of Jerusalem, and the resolution of the situation in the Balkans.
The Vatican has 3 main sources of income: the Institute for Religious Works (essentially the Vatican bank, whose budget amounts to billions of dollars annually), donations from believers, and the financial and economic activities of the enterprises it controls.
The Vatican engages in extensive entrepreneurial activities, including financial ones. It owns significant real estate in Europe and Latin America and collaborates with international banks and monopolies. A significant portion of the Vatican's capital is invested in Italy. In this country, it owns 482,000 hectares of agricultural land, including several thousand hectares in the Rome area.
Groups of pilgrims arriving in the Vatican from various countries and tourists contribute (the so-called "Peter's Pence") to its budget. In 2003, this amount was about 80 million euros.
Since 1998, the Vatican has begun publishing data about its budget (in 2003, it amounted to 1,245,840,497 euros).
The Vatican hosts the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (established in 1603), which is directly subordinate to the Pope and aims to promote research in the fields of physics, mathematics, and natural sciences. Currently, there are 80 members from more than 20 countries among the papal academicians (appointed by the Pope from among prominent scientists in the fields of mathematics and natural sciences); in addition, there are several Vatican representatives in different countries, as well as honorary academicians.
The Vatican publishes hundreds of newspapers and magazines in various countries. The official publication of the Vatican is the daily newspaper "Osservatore Romano" (about 50,000 copies). It has its own press agency - Agenzia Internazionale Fides (AIF). Vatican Radio broadcasts in 37 languages to most countries of the world, including Russia and other CIS countries. The Vatican has a "Vatican Television Center." Since 1996, the Vatican has been connected to the Internet.