VATICAN CITY (HOLY SEE)

State of the Vatican City, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome. At approximately 44 hectares (108.7 acres), it is the smallest independent nation in the world.
The Vatican City state was created in 1929 by the Lateran Treaty as a vestige of the much larger Papal States (756 to 1870). Vatican City is a non-hereditary, elected monarchy and is governed by the Pope, who also holds the title of Bishop of Rome. The highest-ranking state functionaries are all clergymen of the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican is the sovereign territory of the Holy See and the location of the Apostolic Palace — the Pope's official residence — and the Roman Curia. Thus, while the principal ecclesiastical seat (Cathedral) of the Pope as Bishop of Rome, the Basilica of St. John Lateran, is located in Rome but outside of the Vatican walls, Vatican City can be said to be the governmental capital of the Catholic Church.