Vatican City Facts
Vatican City Facts
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| Interesting Vatican City Facts: |
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| Vatican City is located on the site where St. Peter died (he was martyred) approximately 2000 years ago. He may have been crucified upside down. |
| Vatican City's official language is Italian but other languages such as German are also spoken. |
| The Pope has always been a man, except for Pope Joan. She had been disguised as a man named John Anglicus by her lover, and became well known as a scholar and was chosen to be the Pope following Pope Leo. Pope John/John served for two years, seven months, and four days before being discovered as a female (after giving birth) and killed. |
| Vatican City is the smallest country in the world. It also has the smallest population of any country in the world. |
| Vatican City was classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is the only UNESCO site than includes an entire country. |
| Italians have an option to donate 8% of their taxes to the Vatican, as opposed to paying that 8% to the government of Italy. |
| Vatican City is the first carbon neutral state, gaining this status in 2007 when it promised to create a forest in Hungary to offset the entire Vatican City carbon footprint. |
| The military force of Vatican City is the Pontifical Swiss Guard. It was established by Pope Julius II in 1506, originally serving as the Pope's bodyguards. |
| The Vatican Bank (Institute for Works of Religion) is located at the Vatican and has an ATM with Latin instructions. |
| Vatican City does not allow for divorce. A marriage can only be annulled. |
| Technically Vatican City has the highest crime rate in the world. Between civil and criminal cases the average person in Vatican City has about 1.5 cases. |
| Vatican City is small but it has a national soccer team. |
| Individual people cannot own land in Vatican City because it is the property of the Holy See. |
| Vatican City imports all of its food and manufactured products from Italy as it does not have any industrial or agricultural business sectors and does not export anything. |
| Vatican City obtains all water, gas, and electricity from Italy. |
| In order to become the Pope and head of Vatican City and the Roman Catholic Church, candidates must be elected by the 120 College of Cardinals members. The post is good for life. |
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