- Population:
- 1,000
- Religion:
- Christianity
'Vatican City a city-state surrounded by Rome Italy is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. It''s home to the Pope and a trove of iconic art and architecture. Its Vatican Museums house ancient Roman sculptures such as the famed “Laocoön and His Sons” as well as Renaissance frescoes in the Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel famous for Michelangelo’s ceiling.'
Popes in their secular role ruled portions of the Italian peninsula for more than a thousand years until the mid 19th century when many of the Papal States were seized by the newly united Kingdom of Italy. In 1870 the pope's holdings were further circumscribed when Rome itself was annexed. Disputes between a series of \"prisoner\" popes and Italy were resolved in 1929 by three Lateran Treaties which established the independent state of Vatican City and granted Roman Catholicism special status in Italy. In 1984 a concordat between the Holy See and Italy modified certain of the earlier treaty provisions including the primacy of Roman Catholicism as the Italian state religion. Present concerns of the Holy See include religious freedom threats against minority Christian communities in Africa and the Middle East sexual misconduct by clergy international development interreligious dialogue and reconciliation and the application of church doctrine in an era of rapid change and globalization. About 1.2 billion people worldwide profess Catholicism - the world's largest Christian faith.
