The full name is "Vatican City State", the seat of the Holy See. It is located on the Vatican Heights in the northwest corner of Rome. It covers an area of ​​0.44 square kilometers and has a permanent population of about 800, mostly clergy. The Vatican was originally the center of the Papal State in the Middle Ages. After the territory of the Papal State was incorporated into Italy in 1870, the Pope retired to the Vatican; in 1929, he signed the Lateran Treaty with Italy and became an independent country. The Vatican is the country with the smallest territory and the smallest population in the world.

The Vatican is a sovereign state with the Pope as the monarch. The central agency has the State Council, the Holy Ministry, and the Council.

The State Council is a working organization under the direct leadership of the Pope. It assists the Pope in exercising his powers and is in charge of internal and foreign affairs. It is led by the Secretary of State with the title of Cardinal. The Secretary of State is appointed by the Pope to manage the administration of the Vatican and is in charge of the Pope’s privy affairs.

The Holy Ministry is responsible for handling various daily affairs of the Catholic Church. Each ministry is in charge of ministers, with a secretary general and a deputy secretary general. There are 9 sacred ministries, including the Faith Department, the Evangelical Department, the Oriental Church, the Liturgy and Sacramental Department, the Priesthood, the Religious Department, the Bishops Department, the Canonized Saints Department, and the Catholic Education Department.

The council is responsible for handling some specialized affairs, including 12 councils including the Lay Council, the Justice and Peace Council, the Family Council, the Inter-religious Dialogue Council, and the New Gospel Promotion Council. The board of directors is in charge of the chairperson, usually by the cardinal, for a term of 5 years, with a secretary-general and deputy secretary-generals.

The Vatican flag is composed of two vertical rectangles of equal area. The side of the flagpole is yellow and the other side is white, painted with the Pope’s pastoral emblem. The national emblem is the paternal emblem of Pope Paul VI backed by red. The national anthem is "The Pope's March".

The Vatican has neither industry, agriculture, nor natural resources. The national necessities of production and life are supplied by Italy. Financial income mainly depends on tourism, stamps, rental of real estate, bank interest on special property payments, profits from the Vatican Bank, tribute to the Pope, and donations from believers. The Vatican has its own currency, which is the same as the Italian lira.

The Vatican has three economic organizations: One is the Vatican Bank, also known as the Religious Affairs Bank, which is mainly responsible for the financial affairs of the Vatican, directly responsible to the Pope, and under the supervision of the Cardinal Captain. Established in 1942, the bank has a net asset of approximately US$3-4 billion and has business dealings with more than 200 banks in the world. The second is the Pope’s Committee of the Vatican City State, which is responsible for operating the Vatican’s radio, railway, post and telecommunications and other institutions. The third is the Papal Asset Management Office, which is divided into general departments and special departments. The general department is mainly in charge of movable and immovable properties in Italy, with a net asset of nearly 2 billion US dollars. The special department has the nature of an investment company, owning approximately US$600 million in stocks, bonds and real estate in many countries in North America and Europe. The Vatican has more than $10 billion in gold reserves.

Vatican City itself is a cultural treasure. St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope’s Palace, Vatican Library, museums and other palace buildings contain famous cultural relics from the Middle Ages and Renaissance era.  

The residents of the Vatican believe in Catholicism, and their daily lives are strongly religious. Every Sunday, Catholics gather in St. Peter’s Square. At 12 noon, as the church bell rang, the pope appeared in the middle window on the roof of St. Peter’s Basilica and addressed the believers.