The Smallest Independent Nation in the World: The Vatican

The concept of the Vatican baffles many people. While being located inside another country, it still acts as an entirely separate nation. It his home to the people who make up the head of the Catholic Church, known collectively as the Holy See. The Holy See acts as an actual government over the region, and even has political relations with many countries from around the world. If you want to understand what goes on at the Vatican, read on and find out about some of its duties as a country and as head of the church.

The Vatican is located in Rome, and is completely landlocked by the nation of Italy. This puts it in a very strange position, and many people fail to see how it could possibly be an independent country. The Vatican is truly interesting, as it offers all of the features of a full country, including the oldest army in the world. It features a railway station, bank, supermarkets, and everything else the inhabitants could possibly ask for. Despite being the head of the Catholic Church, the Vatican has the largest per-capita crime rate in the world. This is quite interesting, and attributed to the fact that so many tourists come through.

The Vatican and the Holy See do not act as a traditional government. However, they have many things that they do which reflect normal governments. This includes foreign relations with other countries, and a complex diplomacy that goes on between the Vatican and many other countries. The international relations performed by the Vatican involve not only keeping up diplomatic relations, but also allowing for the interests of the Catholic Church to be brought in to play through implementation of its many programs that provide aid for those in need of it.

The Vatican is a difficult thing to grasp if you have not been familiar with it for a while. It is open for visitors, so if you ever want to see it for yourself then you can definitely do that, and possibly get a better idea for what goes on there. If you want to understand more about the Vatican without visiting it, you can find a lot on its official site at www.vatican.va.