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The politics of Vatican City take place in a framework of a theocratic absolute elective monarchy, in which the Pope, religiously speaking, the leader of the Catholic Church and Bishop of Rome, exercises ex officio supreme legislative, executive, and judicial power over the Vatican City as it is being governed by the Holy See,[1] a rare case of non-hereditary monarchy.
The pope is elected in the conclave, composed of all the cardinal electors which are bishops and archbishops appointed by the pope (now limited to all the cardinals below the age of 80), after the death or resignation of the previous Pope. The Conclave is held in the Sistine Chapel, where all the electors are locked in (Latin: cum clave) until the election for which a two-thirds majority is required. The faithful can follow the results of the polls (usually two in the morning and two in the evening, until election) by a chimney-top, visible from St. Peter's Square: in a stove attached to the chimney are burnt the voting papers, and additives make the resulting smoke black (fumata nera) in case of no election, white (fumata bianca) when the new pope is finally elected. The Dean of the Sacred College (Cardinale Decano) will then ask the freshly elected pope to choose his pastoral name, and as soon as the pope is dressed with the white cassock, the Senior Cardinal-Deacon (Cardinale Protodiacono) appears on the major balcony of St. Peter's façade to introduce the new pope[2] with the famous Latin sentence
Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum: habemus papam (I announce to you a great joy: We have a Pope). The term "Holy See" refers to the composite of the authority, jurisdiction, and sovereignty vested in the Pope and his advisers to direct the worldwide Catholic Church. It is therefore quite distinct from the Vatican City state, which was created in 1929, through the Lateran treaties between the Holy See and Italy. As the "central government" of the Catholic Church, the Holy See has a legal personality that allows it to enter into treaties as the juridical equal of a state and to send and receive diplomatic representatives. It has formal diplomatic relations with 179 nations.[3] The State of Vatican City, for its part, is recognized under international law as a sovereign territory. Unlike the Holy See, it does not receive or send diplomatic representatives, and the Holy See acts on its behalf in international affairs.
^Fundamental Law of Vatican City State, Art. 1, No. 1
^Ap. Const. Universi Dominici Gregis n. 89
^ZENIT news agency, "179 states have full diplomatic relations with the Holy See" Archived 16 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine
and 28 Related for: Politics of Vatican City information
VaticanCity (/ˈvætɪkən/ ), officially the VaticanCity State (Italian: Stato della Città del Vaticano; Latin: Status Civitatis Vaticanae), is a landlocked...
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The Vatican Railway (Italian: Ferrovia Vaticana) was opened in 1934 to serve VaticanCity and its only station, VaticanCity (Città del Vaticano [tʃitˈta...
VaticanCity is itself of great cultural significance. Buildings such as St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel are home to some of the most famous...
The post of Governor of the VaticanCity State (Italian: Governatore dello Stato della Città del Vaticano) was held by Marchese Camillo Serafini from...
Diocese of Rome, which has ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the worldwide Catholic Church and sovereignty over the city-state known as the VaticanCity. As...
5% of the citizenry ofVaticanCity. According to the Herald Sun in March 2011, there were only 32 females out of 572 citizens issued with Vatican passports...
Telephone numbers in VaticanCity are integrated into the Italian telephone numbering plan. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has assigned...
under the control of the Vatican Amateur Sports Association, headquartered in the Vatican's Cortile di San Damaso. The VaticanCity football association...
member of either the European Union or the European Economic Area, the VaticanCity maintains an open border with Italy and is treated as part of the Schengen...
Crime in the VaticanCity consists largely of purse snatching, pick-pocketing and shoplifting perpetrated by tourists upon other tourists. The tourist...
The Gendarmerie Corps ofVaticanCity State (Italian: Corpo della Gendarmeria dello Stato della Città del Vaticano) is the gendarmerie, or military police...
Law ofVaticanCity State (Italian: Legge Fondamentale dello Stato della Città del Vaticano) is the main governing legal document of the Vatican's civil...
VaticanCity has become one of the world's most striking architecture through several centuries and a world cultural heritage. The area of the Vatican...
A Vatican passport (Italian: passaporto vaticano) is a passport issued by the Holy See or by VaticanCity State. The state can issue normal passports...
guide for VaticanCity. The main Tourism in VaticanCity are focused in religious tourism and city tourism, including the visit to the Basilica of St. Peter...
State. Catholicism portal VaticanCity portal Papal household Anticurialism PoliticsofVaticanCity Pope Paul VI's reform of the Roman Curia Pastor bonus...
Capital punishment in VaticanCity was legal between 1929 and 1969, reserved for attempted assassination of the Pope, but has never been applied there...
ratified on 7 June 1929. The agreements included a political treaty which created the state of the VaticanCity and guaranteed full and independent sovereignty...
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