The Vatican
Tomorrow my daughter and I will visit the Vatican. She has come to Italy to see us, our first house guest in nearly two years. She will stay during her birthday (June 11) while we take a rather special trip around Italy. She has never been here, so the Vatican is a “must see.” I’ll be quite busy, so instead of writing every day, I’ll share a few interesting facts and a lot of photos.
- The Vatican is the smallest country in the world. Even though it prints its own money, has its own flag, its own government, its own stamps, it is less than one-eighth the size of Central Park in New York City.
- Peter’s Basilica sits on top of a graveyard. The Roman Necropolis was the original construction on the hill which is now St. Peter’s. St. Peter’s in the tallest dome in the world. The final design was done by Michelangelo.
- The obelisk in the center of St. Peter’s Square is from ancient Egypt. It was originally in Heliopolis, a city dedicated to the Sun God. It is a single piece of red granite weighing more than 350 tons.
- The Vatican City came into existence in a compromise with Garibaldi during the revolution from the Papal States that created modern Italy. For sixty years following its formation, the popes refused to leave the Vatican since doing so would acknowledge their loss of power and control.
- The dispute between the Italian government and the Vatican didn’t end until 1929 when Mussolini signed the Laterna Pacts, named for the palace where the original popes lived for centuries.
- The famous Swiss Guard is a mercenary force hired by the Church in 1506.
- The total citizenship of the smallest country in the world is less than 600 people; most do not live in Vatican City, but they do carry Vatican Passports.
- The Vatican used its worldwide priesthood as a spy network during the World Wars, carrying secret documents and information in religiously-protected diplomatic pouches.
