Vatikanstadt

St Peter's Basilica is built over what tradition identifies as the apostle's tomb. The Apostolic Library holds 80,000 manuscripts, including some of the oldest witnesses to the biblical text; the Archives open to researchers holdings covering eight centuries of European diplomacy.

The Papal States, formed from the eighth century, made the pope a temporal as well as spiritual sovereign. Their disappearance in 1870 during Italian unification opened a “Roman question” lasting nearly sixty years.

The Lateran Accords, signed on 11 February 1929, created Vatican City State on 44 hectares and settled the dispute. The Holy See, a distinct subject of international law, maintains diplomatic relations with almost every state and holds observer status at the UN.

The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) profoundly reformed the liturgy and the Church's relationship to the modern world, religious freedom and Judaism. The Vatican uses the euro under a monetary convention with the Union and mints its own coins.