X-Nico

10 unusual facts about Vatican City


Actes et documents du Saint Siège relatifs à la Seconde Guerre Mondiale

Actes et Documents du Saint Siège relatifs à la Seconde Guerre Mondiale (French for Acts and Documents of the Holy See related to the Second World War), often abbreviated Actes or ADSS, is an eleven-volume collection of documents from the Vatican historical archives, related to the papacy of Pope Pius XII during World War II.

Adalbert Falk

In 1879, his position becoming untenable because of the death of Pope Pius IX and the change of German policy with regard to the Vatican, he resigned his office but retained his seat in the Reichstag until 1882.

Al Neri

In the closing scenes of the film, Vincent calls upon Neri's skills one last time, sending him to infiltrate Vatican City, where he guns down the corrupt Archbishop Gilday and tosses his body down a spiral staircase.

Ciudad de Nueva Cáceres

In 1595, a papal bull coming from the Vatican created the See of Cáceres under the Archdiocese of Manila.

Codex Borgia

The Codex Borgia is presently housed in the Apostolic Library, the Vatican.

Emmanuel Dungia

After some external work, Dungia is sent in diplomatic missions in Paris (1980–81), Brussels (1981–86) and the Vatican (1986–89).

John Moorman

He was a frequent visitor to the Vatican and led a delegation of Anglican observers to the Second Vatican Council.

The A.R.K. Report

Moskoff also discounts other hypotheses that suggest that the Ark is in the Vatican or Ethiopia.

UST Growling Tigers

The gold and white colors of the flag of the Vatican City were adopted by University of Santo Tomas as its school colors because of its Pontifical status.

Vatican, Louisiana

The community is named after Vatican City with street names such as Vatican Road, Vatican Square Drive, Pope Drive, and Bishop Street.


Adam Maida

In April 2005, following the Pope's death, he traveled to the Vatican as a cardinal elector to participate in the conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI.

Ambroise-Marie Carré

He preached the Lenten sermons many times at Notre Dame de Paris, and in 1964, Paul VI called him to present spiritual exercises at the Vatican.

Atmosphere of Jupiter

A minor mystery concerns a Jovian spot depicted around 1700 on a canvas by Donato Creti, which is exhibited in the Vatican.

Blue box

On one occasion Wozniak dialed Vatican City and identified himself as Henry Kissinger (imitating Kissinger's German accent) and asked to speak to the Pope (who was sleeping at the time).

Boris Brott

In 2000, he received international attention when he conducted the historic first performance of Bernstein's Mass in Vatican City for an audience which included the late Pope John Paul II.

Death Track: Resurrection

The game involves racing and trying to finish first across several tracks located around the world, including Bangkok, Vatican City, London, Moscow, New York, Paris, Prague, San Diego, Istanbul and Tokyo.

Dudum siquidem

According to Davenport, no copy of this bull has been found in the records of the Vatican, but in the General Archive of the Indies in Seville two original manuscripts of it survive, both with the papal lead seal attached, although not marked "Registrata", as is usual.

Giovanni Battista Jona

Giovanni Battista Jona, originally Judah Jonah of Safed, (d.1678), was a Hebrew writer at the Vatican.

Harpalus affinis

In Europe, it is only absent in the following countries or islands: the Azores, the Canary Islands, the Channel Islands, Crete, Cyclades, Dodecanese, the Faroe Islands, Franz Josef Land, Gibraltar, Iceland, Madeira, Malta, Monaco, the North Aegean islands, Novaya Zemlya, San Marino, the Savage Islands, Sicily, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, and Vatican City.

Harpalus anxius

In Europe, it is only absent in the following countries or islands: Andorra, the Azores, the Canary Islands, the Channel Islands, Crete, Cyclades, Cyprus, Dodecanese, the Faroe Islands, Franz Josef Land, Gibraltar, Iceland, Madeira, Malta, Monaco, the North Aegean islands, Norway, Novaya Zemlya, Portugal, San Marino, the Savage Islands, Sicily, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, and Vatican City.

Human rights in Saudi Arabia

Under Pope Benedict XVI, Vatican officials have raised the issue of Christians being forbidden from worshipping openly in Saudi Arabia.

Inquisitor's Palace

:Not to be confused with the Palace of the Holy Office in the Vatican.

Jennifer Paige

Paige toured the world, sang for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, was nominated for Best New Artist and performed at the World Music Awards, while promoting her music.

Louis de Sabran

After returning to France, Sabran was elected to be sent to Rome, Italy to the Vatican by the council of Watten in 1693.

Ludwig Kaas

After this achievement, Pacelli was called back to the Vatican to be appointed Cardinal Secretary of State.

Munkeby Abbey

Local tradition had always maintained that Okkenhaug Chapel had once belonged to a monastery; for centuries historians dismissed this, until in 1906 a letter dated 1475 from Pope Sixtus IV to Abbot Stephen of Trugge was discovered in the Vatican archives referring to the request for the restoration of the site as a functioning monastery.

Nebria brevicollis

In Europe, it is found in all countries and islands except the Azores, the Canary Islands, the Channel Islands, Franz Josef Land, Gibraltar, Madeira, Malta, Monaco, the North Aegean Islands, Novaya Zemlya, San Marino, the Selvagens Islands, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, and Vatican City.

Neocrepidodera motschulskii

Neocrepidodera motschulskii is a species of flea beetle from Chrysomelidae family that can be found everywhere in Europe except for Albania, Andorra, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Monaco, Romania, San Marino, Spain, Switzerland, Vatican City, Yugoslavian states, and various European islands.

Niccolò di Pietro Gerini

Niccolo di Pietro Gerini's works can be found in major art galleries in Rome, the Vatican, Florence, London, Milan, New York, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris, St Petersburg, Boston, Cambridge, Budapest, Birmingham, Pelago, Prato, Pisa, Altenburg, Avignon, Denver, and several other museums.

Nikolaus Gross

Nikolaus Gross (German:Groß) (30 September 1898 – 23 January 1945) was a German resistance fighter and labor union leader in the time of the Third Reich who was later beatified by Pope John Paul II at St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City on 7 October 2001.

Owen Snedden

In mid-1943 (after the fall of Mussolini and the German occupation of Rome) such activities became much more hazardous under Gestapo surveillance and also risked compromising the neutrality of Vatican City.

Peter Vaghi

Back in America, he attended the University of Virginia Law School and worked as an attorney and staffer to Senator Pete Domenici in Washington, D.C., before being assigned as a seminarian to the North American College, Vatican City, and attending the Gregorian University in Rome, Italy in preparation for the priesthood.

Philorhizus sigma

Philorhizus sigma is a species of brown coloured ground beetle in the Lebiinae subfamily that can be found in everywhere in Europe, except for Andorra, Croatia, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City and European islands.

PhilSports Stadium stampede

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano said in a telegram to Pasig district Bishop Francisco San Diego that 'the Pope offers his prayers for all those affected by this terrible accident.

Pierre Alamire

Manuscripts copied by Alamire can be found in many European libraries, including the Habsburg court library in Vienna, in London (the Henry VIII manuscript), the Vatican (a manuscript for Pope Leo X), Brussels, Munich, and Jena, which has the court books for Frederick III, Elector of Saxony.

Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria

On 8 May 2013, Pope Tawadros II, pope and patriarch of the See of St. Mark and leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church, met with Pope Francis, bishop of Rome and supreme pontiff of the Catholic Church, in Vatican City.

Raymond Eddé

A believer in coexistence between Christians and Muslim, Eddé opposed plans to partition Lebanon into ethnic and sectarian statelets, plans which he accused the United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger of conspiring to foist on Lebanon, and visited France and the Vatican in an attempt to rally opposition to the purported conspiracy.

Saint Gabriel Possenti Society

The Saint Gabriel Possenti Society is an organization promoting the public recognition of St. Gabriel Possenti, including lobbying for his designation by the Vatican as the Patron Saint of hand gun owners.

SS Cristoforo Colombo

In the spring of 1964, the Cristoforo Colombo carried the Pietà from the Vatican to the 1964 New York World's Fair.

The Five Cities of June

In the Vatican, the election and coronation of Pope Paul VI; in the Soviet Union, the launch of a Soviet rocket as part of the Space Race with the United States; in South Vietnam, fighting between Communists and South Vietnamese soldiers; in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States, the racial integration of the University of Alabama opposed by Governor George Wallace; and in Berlin, President John F. Kennedy's visit to Germany and Rudolph Wilde Platz.

The Vision of the Cross

After the master's death in 1520, Gianfrancesco Penni, Giulio Romano and Raffaellino del Colle from Raphael's workshop worked together to finish the commission to decorate with frescoes the rooms that are now known as the Stanze di Raffaello, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican.

Ultramontanism

Thus, as a result of the 1929 Lateran Treaty which established a Concordat between the Holy See and the nation of Italy, the secular power of the Bishop of Rome, i.e., the Pope, was reduced to the one square mile of Vatican City, the smallest sovereign nation on earth.

Vincent Conçessao

Talking shortly after the destruction of the World Trade Center in September 2001, at the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in the Vatican Archbishop Concessao spoke of another form of terrorism, which he called "the terrorism of an unjust economic system which grinds to death thousands of people every day".