Simple directory > Regional > Vatican City

Country : Vatican City Official name: Stato della Cittá del Vaticano (Vatican City State). Santa Sede (The Holy See) – the head organisation of the Roman Catholic Church – operates from the territory of the Vatican City State. Head of State: Pope Benedict XVI (inaugurated 24 Apr 2005) Head of Government: There is no head of government, but Secretary of State of The Holy See Cardinal Angelo Sodano (appointed 1991 and confirmed again 21 Apr 2005) handles diplomatic and political activity. Area: 0 0.44 square km Population: 880 (2004) Capital: Vatican City Official language: Latin; Italian is most commonly spoken. Currency: Vatican City Lira and Euro (VCL and eur) Exchange rate: VCL and eur0.77 per US$ (Nov 2004) (the Vatican City State has its own currency which, by agreement with the Italian state, is also legal tender in Italy; its value is pegged to that of the euro).

Historical profile

1917 The Code of Canon Law was devised. The Law provides codified information and rules on the operations of the Catholic Church.

1922 Achilles Ratti became Pope Pius XI.

1929 The Pope was instrumental in defining the Vatican's position within Italy, which was confirmed by the signing of the Lateran Treaty, when the Vatican City State was formed as a separate state.

1939 When Pius XI died, Eugenio Pacelli became Pope Pius XII, the 261st Pope.

1958 After Pius XII died, Pope John XXIII was elected.

1963 Second Vatican Council assembled (the first council sat in 325 AD), to debate the role of the Church in the modern world, particularly regarding church administration, doctrine and discipline. Foremost in the 16 decrees issued were the reforms in the format of the mass and the liturgy, adoption of local languages instead of Latin for services, and the promotion of ecumenicalism within Christian churches.

1967 The Apostolic Constitution was ratified.

1965 Paul VI, appointed Pope in 1963, made the first papal trip to the Western hemisphere, with a visit to the UN headquarters in New York.

1978 John Paul I was appointed Pope, but died one month later, which made his the shortest reign as Pope. A Polish national, Karol Jozef Wojtyla, succeeded him as John Paul II.

1981 An assassination attempt was made on Pope John Paul II's life.

1983 A new and revised Code of Canon Law was introduced.

1990 Cardinal Angelo Sodano became the secretary of state of The Holy See.

2001 Pope John Paul II appointed 44 new cardinals. The Pope issued a worldwide apology to victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests and other clergy.

2002 The Istituto per le Opere di Religione (IOR) (Bank of The Holy See) was sued in the US over a charity scandal.

The Pope sent an envoy, Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, to the Middle East to help with the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

The Capuchin friar, Padre Pio, was canonised. After the Vatican ordered that management of Padre Pio's sanctuary in the south-eastern town of San Giovanni Rotondo should be taken from the local Capuchins and given to the regional archdiocese, the town's residents barricaded the entrance to the shrine.

2003 In April, the Vatican hosted a closed-door seminar of top officials and international medical experts on the problem of paedophilia.

2004 The Vatican library, which houses nearly two million books and manuscripts, adopted radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. The library used to close for one month each year in order to check its contents, but with RFID, it will take half a day.

2005 Pope John Paul II, aged 84, who had been suffering from Parkinson's disease and severe arthritis, died on 2 April; the chamberlain, Eduardo Cardinal Martínez Somalo, became acting head of state. The conclave to elect a new pope began on 18 April, and on 19 April, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger was elected and chose the name Benedictus XVI. On 21 April, he confirmed Cardinal Angelo Sodano as secretary of state and Giovanni Lajolo as foreign minister. Pope Benedictus XVI was inaugurated on 24 April.

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