Portal:Vatican City

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Vatican City (/ˈvætɪkən/ ^ⓘ), officially the Vatican City State (Italian: Stato della Città del Vaticano; Latin: Status Civitatis Vaticanae), is a landlocked sovereign country, city-state, microstate, and enclave within Rome, Italy. It 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 under international law, which maintains the city-state's temporal power and governance, diplomatic, and spiritual independence. The Vatican is also a metonym for the pope, the city-state's and worldwide Catholic Church government Holy See, and Roman Curia.

With an area of 49 hectares (121 acres) and as of 2023 a population of about 764, it is the smallest state in the world both by area and by population. It is also the second-least populated capital in the world. 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. The highest state functionaries are all Catholic clergy of various origins. After the Avignon Papacy (1309–1377) the popes have mainly resided at the Apostolic Palace within what is now Vatican City, although at times residing instead in the Quirinal Palace in Rome or elsewhere. (Full article...)

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The Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope, aka the VATT, is a 1.8 meter Gregorian telescope observing in the optical and infrared. It is part of the Mount Graham International Observatory. It is situated on Mount Graham in southeast Arizona, and it achieved 'first light', the first starlight to pass through the telescope onto a detector, in 1993. It is operated by the Vatican Observatory, one of the oldest astronomical research institutions in the world, in partnership with The University of Arizona.

The heart of the telescope is an f/1.0 honeycombed construction, borosilicate primary mirror. The mirror was manufactured at The University of Arizona's Steward Observatory Mirror Laboratory[1], which pioneered both the spin-casting and the stressed-lap polishing techniques which are being used for telescope mirrors that include the 6.5 meter aperture MMT and Magellan telescopes and the two 8.4 meter mirrors of the Large Binocular Telescope. The VATT's mirror is unusually 'fast', f/1, which means that its focal distance is equal to its diameter. Because it has such a short focal length, a Gregorian design could be employed which uses a concave secondary mirror at a point beyond the primary focus; this allows unusually sharp focusing across the field of view.

The unusual optical design and novel mirror fabrication techniques mean that both the primary and secondary mirrors are among the most exact surfaces ever made for a ground-based telescope. In addition, the skies above Mount Graham are among the most clear, steady, and dark in the continental North America. Seeing of better than one arc-second even without adaptive optics can be achieved on a regular basis.

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Credit: Rb85

The Vatican Observatory (Specola Vaticana) is an astronomical research and educational institution supported by the Holy See. Originally based in the Roman College of Rome, it now has headquarters and laboratory at the summer residence of the Pope in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, and an observatory at the Mount Graham International Observatory in the United States.^[1]

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The following are images from various Vatican City-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Cesare Orsenigo (left, with Hitler and Ribbentrop), nuncio to Germany, also served as de facto nuncio to Poland. (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 2Members of the Canadian Royal 22nd Regiment in audience with Pope Pius XII, following the 1944 Liberation of Rome. (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 3Bernardino Nogara, the chief Vatican financier during the war (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 4Map of Vatican City (from Geography of Vatican City)
Image 5The crowds of tourists in St. Peter's Square are a target for pickpockets. (from Crime in Vatican City)
Image 6The Fountain of the Eagle "Fontana dell'Aquilone" in the Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 7A view of the Gardens of Vatican City (from Geography of Vatican City)
Image 8Enlargeable, detailed map of Vatican City (from Geography of Vatican City)
Image 9The Little Flower, Saint Therese of Lisieux is the official Patroness of the gardens. (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 10Palace of the Governorate of Vatican City State (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 11Armenian cross monument (Khatchkar) inside the Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 12A monument to Fr. Maximilian Kolbe, among the estimated 3,000 members (18%) of the Polish clergy who were killed by the Nazis; of these, 1,992 died in concentration camps. (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 13An ATM in Vatican City with Latin instructions (from Economy of Vatican City)
Image 14Polish ambassador to the Vatican, Kazimierz Papée, was critical of Pius XII's pre-war mediation efforts. (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 15A souvenir shop on the roof of St. Peter's Basilica (from Economy of Vatican City)
Image 16The Vatican City came into existence in 1929, a decade before the start of World War II (from Vatican City during World War II)
Image 17Part of the Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 18President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama meet with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on July 10, 2009. (from Women in Vatican City)
Image 19Empress Saint Helena of Constantinople carrying the One True Cross laying the grounds for the gardens using the sacred soil from Mount Calvary. (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 20Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 21Vatican Gardens (from Gardens of Vatican City)
Image 22Pasta is popular in the Vatican, being one of Pope Francis' favorite dishes. (from Culture of Vatican City)

Did you know?

... that the final silent film directed by Giulia Cassini Rizzotto was partly funded by the Vatican and featured Italian aristocrats?
... that Sans's boss theme, "Megalovania", was played at the Vatican as part of a circus act during an audience with Pope Francis?
... that a Vatican Hebrew manuscript has been used as a source for analysing and emending modern editions of the Palestinian Talmud?
... that the Second Vatican Council tried to undo the latinization of Eastern Catholic liturgy?
... that the Vatican selected Mary Milligan in 1987 to be one of only three U.S. experts to assist the International Synod of Bishops on the Laity in Rome?
... that some Catholics considered Tom Lehrer's "The Vatican Rag" (audio featured) to be blasphemous?