Written by Vatican City , officially the Vatican City State (Italian: Stato della Città del Vaticano; Latin: Status Civitatis Vaticanae),is an independent city-state and enclave surrounded by Rome, Italy.Also known simply as the Vatican, the state became independent from Italy in 1929 with the Lateran Treaty, and it is a distinct territory under “full ownership, exclusive dominion, and sovereign authority and jurisdiction” of the Holy See, itself a sovereign entity of international law, which maintains the city state’s temporal, diplomatic, and spiritual independence.With an area of 49 hectares (121 acres) and a 2019 population of about 453,it is the smallest state in the world by both area and population.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.
