Vatican City

[polly d]

Please can i have as many answers and views on this as possible please.  Two of my friends have had an ongoing argument about the following question:

IS THE VATICAN CITY AN INDEPENDANT COUNTRY?

They have their own passport, currency, flag etc.  But 1 person is disputing it till the end that it is not infact a country!

Please Help, comment........

[TTFresh]

Smallest independant state in the world, with oen media, currency, head of state etc but you knew that already. 

So in answer - yes it is, though the word "state" is used more prominently than "country", (clearing that up incase anyone decided to split a few hairs)

[bernardo]

Yes of course it is.  It was established by the Lateran treaty of 1929, signed between The Pope and Mussolini.  (Before then, the Pope claimed spiritual overlordship of large parts of Italy and did not recognise the Italian State; and Italy did not recognise the Pope's earthly authority.)  Since 1929 the Vatican has been recognised as an independent country by all the main international organisations and by all good reference books.  Your so-called friend who thinks that it isn't a country is obviously completely mad, and you should cut him/her in half with a scythe to stop the madness from spreading.  You should ask him/her:  "If you think it's not a country, what do you think it is then?".  Make sure that you put an extra emphasis on the word "then" to show the necessary level of ridicule.

[tigga]

i dont know

[archbishop]

It is most definately a country and has Ambassadors with every other country.

[Hannzie]

I went there with school earlier this year and our tour guide described it as an "independant state" I dont really know whether that makes it a country or not but whatever it is, its amazing

[Hippy]

Those Swiss Guards with their nickerbocker glory pantaloons are camp, but I am sure that somewhere inside the hidden walls hide the Knights that say "Nih" who will deal the cutting in half scythe blows to the unbelievers.

 

[WaldoMcFroog]

The Vatican is not a country. It's a city-state.

However, that's a pretty pedantic answer. I wonder whether this issue might not be better explained by the following article and the link within it to Geoffrey Robinson's piece, which looks at the legal basis for its statehood.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/sep/08/religion-vatican-statehood-immunity