Vatican City

Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State (Italian: Stato della Città del Vaticano; Latin: Status Civitatis Vaticanae) is a sovereign state whose territory includes a walled enclave within the city. Rome Street, Italy. With an area of only about 44 hectares (110 acres) and a population of about 1,000, the Vatican is internationally recognized as the world's smallest independent country in terms of area and population.

Often when referring to the Vatican we often understand that it is referring to the Vatican. In reality, however, the Vatican and the Holy See are two separate entities. While Vatican is a term generally used to refer to the territory of a country with a few hundred citizens, having administrative significance, the Holy See (i.e. "the seat of the apostles") is the umbrella term. It has a broad meaning in terms of religious relations with the governing structure of over 1.2 billion believers worldwide and also in terms of political relations with the secular world. To put it simply, referring to the Vatican is that we are referring to a tangible place. The Vatican is a religious and political organization representing the global Catholic faithful.

In diplomatic and foreign relations, the name Holy See is used, not Vatican. Official documents of Vatican City State are issued in Italian, while those of the Holy See are issued mainly in Latin. The two entities also have separate passports: the Holy See issues diplomatic and official passports, while the Vatican City State issues ordinary passports to citizens.