#头条创作挑战赛 #
The Vatican, which is recognized as the smallest and least populated country in the world, has a land area of only 0.44 square kilometers, and the size of Tiananmen Square, its permanent population is only 618 people, it is located in the northwest corner of the Italian capital Rome, is a veritable city within a city, hence the name Vatican City State.
The Vatican is a theocratic country, the Pope is the head of the Vatican, he combines the supreme legislative, executive, and judicial powers, and is the spiritual leader of Catholics around the world.
As a Catholic holy city, the Vatican has about 1.345 billion Catholics worldwide, for Catholics, the Vatican is a city of faith, a sacred capital, and the spiritual home of hundreds of millions of Catholics around the world, and the Vatican is also the only country in the world where the whole people have a unified faith.
How did such a city within a country, the size of Tiananmen Square, come about?
This also starts with the predecessor of the Vatican, the "Papal States".
In 555, the Eastern Roman Empire unified Italy, and Catholicism was established as the "state religion". After having a noble position, the Bishop of Rome changed his name to "Pope", and as the influence of the church power expanded, the royal power gradually succumbed to the patriarchal power, and the influence of the pope even exceeded that of the emperor of the Roman Empire, and the monarchs of Western Europe also needed the coronation appointment of the Pope to become kings.
In 751, Pepin, the former chancellor of the Frankish kingdom, was crowned King of the Franks by the Pope, and in order to repay the Pope, Pepin sent troops to Italy and dedicated the city of Rome and the surrounding area he conquered to the Pope, so the Papal States were formally formed.
In 800, Pope Leo III freed the Church of Rome from the subordination of the Eastern Roman Empire by coronating Charlemagne, since before that, the status of the Pope and the Church of Rome was subordinate to the Eastern Roman Emperor. From then on, the power of the Papal States increased, and by the end of the 18th century, the territory belonging to the Pope reached its peak.
But the good times did not last long, and with the outbreak of the French Revolution, it brought great losses to the Holy See.
In 1798, the French captured the city of Rome and established the Roman Republic. Pope Pius VI was captured, and Pius VI, who was over eighty, died in captivity. Two years later, France restored the Papal States, and the newly appointed Pius VII returned to Rome.
When Napoleon was crowned Emperor of France in 1804, Pope Pius VII was forced to come to Paris to crown him himself, and at the time of his coronation, Napoleon refused to kneel before the Pope to crown Pius VII, but took the crown and put it on his head. Then in 1808, the French army attacked the Papal States again and completely destroyed them until Napoleon's defeat, and at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the Papal States were proposed to be rebuilt.
In 1848, when the liberal revolution broke out in Europe, the Papal States were not spared, and angry people poured into the streets to demand social reforms in the Holy See, and Pope Pius IX then fled Rome for refuge, and later under the protection of France, Pius IX was able to suppress the revolution and return to Rome.
The Second Italian War of Independence in 1859 and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 broke out, Italy first recovered the northern territories occupied by Austria, then captured the city of Rome, which lost French protection, and made the capital Rome, while the then Pope Pius IX retreated to the Vatican Castle and became a prisoner of the Vatican, after which successive popes refused to recognize the fall of the Papal States and continued to confront Italy with the power of Catholics.
It was not until February 1929, when Italy signed the Lateran Treaty with Pope Pius XI, that the Pope officially recognized the demise of the Papal States and established the Vatican City State, which Italy recognized as a sovereign state. At this point, the Vatican changed from the supreme Papal States in the Middle Ages to the smallest country in the world.
The Vatican is very small, it takes more than half an hour to walk around it, the country has no natural resources, no industry and agriculture, even the usual purchase of daily necessities need to be imported from Italy, it is said that there is not even a barbershop in the Vatican, residents have to go abroad for haircuts on weekdays.
But the world's smallest country has more than $10 billion in gold reserves and a staggering $95,000 per capita GDP. This is also inseparable from its special religious status and developed tourism.
In the world's smallest country, there is the largest church in the world, St. Peter's Basilica
It is also one of the important symbols of the Catholic Church and is the most outstanding Renaissance building, containing numerous European Renaissance artworks. According to the biography of the Catholic Church, St. Peter's Basilica is the burial place of St. Peter, the head of the apostles, and most of the previous popes have been buried here.
It is home to the Vatican Palace, the home of successive popes
It is the center of world Catholicism, and the palace houses the world-famous Sistine Chapel, which used to be the private and exclusive prayer of the Pope. At the same time, the Vatican Palace has some of the most famous religious frescoes by Italian Renaissance masters Raphael and Michelangelo.
It is also home to the Vatican Museums, the smallest national museum in the world
It is one of the first museums in the world, dating back to the 5th century AD, and houses a collection of priceless treasures.
As the center of Catholicism in the world, the Vatican has also established a variety of religious monasteries in the streets of the country, and different forms of churches will be established in each street.
Of course, the Vatican's economic income accounts for a large part of tourism, stamps and coins issued, as well as numerous real estate left over from the Papal States, as well as the profits of religious banks and donations from believers.
Finally: As the smallest country in the world, the Vatican is also the only country in Europe that does not have diplomatic relations with China.
What do you think of such an amazing country?