Vatican City State

Sovereign area within the city of Rome, Italy.

Government
The absolute head of state of the Vatican City is the pope, who is elected for life by the Sacred College of Cardinals. He appoints, for five-year periods, a pontifical commission (a body of Roman Catholic cardinals) to act as a legislature and, under the lead of the commission's president, administer the state's affairs on the pope's behalf and under his direction. The pope is Benedict XVI, from 2005.

History
The pope has traditionally been based in Rome, where the Vatican has been a papal residence since 1377; the Vatican Palace is one of the largest in the world and contains a valuable collection of works of art.

The Vatican City State came into being through the Lateran Treaty of 1929, under which Italy recognized the sovereignty of the pope over the city of the Vatican. The 1947 Italian constitution reaffirmed the Lateran Treaty, and under its terms, Roman Catholicism became the state religion in Italy, enjoying special privileges. This remained so until, under a new 1984 Concordat (ratified in 1985), Catholicism ceased to be the state religion.