The Vatican is a very unique country internationally: it is the smallest and least populous of the 195 independent sovereign states recognized by the United Nations. The Vatican has an area of only 0.44 square kilometers and a population of less than 1,000 people. The Vatican is a religious leader state: the Vatican's head of state is the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. In European history, the pope not only firmly ruled the spiritual world of people, but also had power so great that he could even depose secular monarchs. After the 15th century, there was a Renaissance and a Reformation in Various European countries.
As the political and economic structure of Europe changed, nation-states gradually replaced feudal states, and the degree of papal intervention in the secular political life of countries became smaller and smaller in the process, and eventually approached nothing. After the Italian army entered the city of Rome in 1870, the Holy See lost its secular power. The Pope remained in the Vatican as a Catholic leader after losing his secular power. On 11 February 1929, Mussolini, then head of Italy, signed the Treaty of Rutland with the Pope in order to win the support of the Catholic world: the Vatican was officially recognized as a sovereign state.
How much sense and influence will a small country like the Vatican have in the international arena? During the Tehran Conference, Churchill had suggested that Stalin consider the influence of the Pope in the problems of post-war Eastern Europe, and Stalin asked after a moment of contemplation: "How many divisions does the Pope have?" In fact, the entire armed force of the Vatican consisted of only 110 Swiss Guards and 130 Vatican gendarmes. The combined strength of the two armed forces is only 240 people, and the number of posts in a standard division is usually more than 10,000 people.
In fact, it might have been more appropriate for Stalin to ask the Pope how many companies there were, because the total strength of the Vatican was about the same as two companies. To put it mildly, it is that sending people from two villages can also easily take down this small country with no strategic depth. But the reality is that no one with a normal brain would have the idea of attacking the Vatican. Don't look at the United States waging war all over the world, but the United States will never fight the Vatican's idea. Russia can intervene in the war in Syria and the war in Ukraine, but it will not fight the Vatican's ideas.
Italy, the Vatican's neighbor, is weaker than the two military powers of the United States and Russia, but it is not difficult for people to take the Vatican as one of the seven major industrial powers in the West, not to mention that all the territory of the Vatican can be surrounded by Italy. If Italy wanted to take the Vatican, it would not need to send a regular army, but simply send a police force to take over the security. But the United States, Russia, Italy, or any other major country in the world have never fought the Vatican's idea.
That's because attacking the Vatican was a loss-making deal. What can I gain from laying down a projectile land like the Vatican? The benefits of attacking the Vatican are far from enough to offset the costs paid. The entire territory of the Vatican is under Siege by Italy. This meant that whoever wanted to attack the Vatican would first have to manage to pass through Italian territory. The Vatican's special geographical location is similar to mongolia, which is surrounded by chinese and Russian territory. Imagine who would attack the Mongols.
If anyone wants to fight Mongolia, it will first cause violations of the territory of China and Russia. No country in the world is so bold. Similarly, the invasion of the Vatican would first have to fight a war with Italy. Don't look at Italy as a scum character in World War II, but that doesn't mean Italy won't resist when it is invaded on its own soil. After all, Italy is also one of the seven major industrial powers in the West, not to mention the support of the entire NATO behind Italy. Attacking the Vatican would therefore entail risking war with Italy and nato as a whole.
So what if Italy itself wants to attack the Vatican? The Papal States, the predecessor of the Vatican, has historically been inextricably linked to Italy. It was Italy that recognized the Vatican's status as an independent sovereign state through the Signing of the Treaty of Lateran with the Pope in 1929. After the Vatican became an independent sovereign state in 1929, it maintained a very special relationship with Italy. The Vatican, a small country with little industry and agriculture to speak of. The Vatican's main economic sources are tourism, real estate leasing, bank profits, and donations from believers.
Although the Vatican is a fairly wealthy country, food and other necessities of life cannot be produced on their own. For a long time, the daily necessities needed by Vatican residents were supplied by Italy. Although the Vatican issued its own currency, it was common to the Italian lira. It can be seen that the Vatican and Italy are inextricably linked geographically, historically, economically, and culturally, not to mention that Italy will not be so mad that it will openly oppose the Pope.
The Vatican, as a country directly ruled by the Pope, is regarded as a Catholic holy city. Catholicism has more than a billion adherents worldwide (about one-sixth of the world's population). Although the developed countries in Europe and the United States have long implemented the separation of church and state, Catholicism still has a huge influence in European and American civil society. Who would want to risk being the enemy of one-sixth of the world's population to take a piece of land of no strategic value? Therefore, Britain, France, the United States, Russia and other world powers will give the Vatican corresponding respect and establish formal diplomatic relations with it.
As of July 2021, the Vatican has established diplomatic relations with 183 countries, regions and international organizations. The Vatican also has close economic ties with these countries: the Vatican has more than $10 billion in gold reserves, and in many European and American countries it also owns about $600 million in stocks and bonds and real estate. Vatican Bank has business dealings with more than 200 banks around the world. In this way, the Vatican has tied itself to the interests of European and American countries through financial instruments in addition to religion, so the developed countries in Europe and the United States have naturally become the protectors of the Vatican.
In a sense, the Vatican, a small country with a projectile of bullets, has the same important influence in the world as the United States, China, Russia and other big countries. Of course, some people may disagree with this - for example, Stalin was quite dismissive of the Vatican. In fact, the Vatican exerts a million times more influence in international affairs than it is a million times larger. Small countries like the Vatican usually don't have much presence and influence in the world, but the Vatican is an exception in a bunch of pocket-sized projectile countries.
The Vatican's particularity as a directly ruled state by the Pope gives it extraordinary influence on a global scale. Of course, religious factors are generally implicit in international politics. After all, the core element that determines relations between countries lies in their respective national interests, not in their respective religious beliefs and ideologies. At that time, Stalin naturally paid more attention to the hard power of the state in the political, economic and military aspects from the perspective of realistic international politics, and relatively ignored the influence of the state in terms of religion and culture.
Of course, religious factors will not have a decisive influence on international relations, but the subtle influence is always there. Although the Vatican is a small projectile country that can no longer be small, the Vatican's subtle influence in the international arena cannot be ignored by any country. At the same time, the Vatican is also very aware of its own strength, so it will not take the initiative to make trouble with other countries. Keeping the Vatican would pose no real threat to the interests of all countries, but taking it would instead risk antagonizing NATO and Catholics around the world.
Since taking the Vatican will not benefit much, but will have to take such a big risk, the great powers will naturally lack interest in taking the Vatican. The Vatican has not only survived the great power game, but has also been able to exert a special influence internationally. In addition to being a Catholic holy city, the Vatican is also an artistic capital: St. Peter's Basilica, St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, etc. are all representative architectural works in the world. These buildings house the works of masters such as Botticelli, Bernini, Raphael and Michelangelo.