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Vatican City

Syllabification: (Vat·i·can Cit·y)

Translate Vatican City | into French | into Italian | into Spanish

Definition of Vatican City

an independent papal state in the city of Rome, the seat of government of the Roman Catholic Church; population 800 (est. 2009).

It covers an area of 109 acres (44 hectares) around St. Peter’s Basilica and the palace of the Vatican. Having been suspended after the incorporation of the former Papal States into Italy in 1870, the temporal power of the pope was restored by the Lateran Treaty of 1929