Vatican City 2001

Yearbook 2001

Vatican City. On January 3, it was publicly confirmed for the first time that Pope John Paul II was suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Later that month, the pope appointed 44 new cardinals, further strengthening the conservative fallout within the college that will appoint his successor.

In the spring, the Vatican received criticism from Archbishop Christodoulos, leader of the Greek Orthodox Church, for the looting of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1204. A formal apology was demanded, which came May 4 when the Pope made a very distinguished visit to Greece. It was the first pope’s visit in Greece in nearly 1,000 years and it sparked sharp protests from several groups in Greek society. The visit was part of a pilgrimage he made in the footsteps of the apostle Paul from Syria to Malta. In Syria, John Paul II visited Damascus, where he became the first pope to visit a mosque.

  • Abbreviationfinder: lists typical abbreviations and country overview of Vatican, including bordering countries, geography, history, politics, and economics.

A new law was passed during the year, which meant that a number of amendments to the constitution were incorporated into the Constitution. Thus, a clearer distinction was made between legislative, executive and judicial authorities. However, the Pope retains the utmost power in the Vatican City.

Population 2001

According to Countryaah, the population of Vatican City in 2001 was 687, ranking number 235 in the world. The population growth rate was 0.330% yearly, and the population density was 0.0000 people per km2.

Vatican City Population Graph

Vatican, City of It was located within the city of Rome, on the western bank. of the Tiber and corresponding to the Vatican hill. It consists of the basilica of St. Peter, the homonymous square and a small strip of land behind the basilica; the square, open to the public, is subject to the authority of the Italian State in matters of police and public order. Various external areas with extraterritorial characteristics belong to the City of Vatican the palace of Castel Gandolfo, the pope’s summer residence, and the area where the Vatican radio station of Santa Maria di Galeria stands. Formed in 1929, the City State of Vatican it represents the seat of the Catholic Church and is placed under the temporal jurisdiction of the pope, who has legislative, executive and judicial powers. The State of the City of Vatican arose on the basis of the juridical conditions created by the treaty of 11 February. 1929 between Italy and the Holy See (➔ Lateranensi, Patti) through the transfer of a territory into sovereignty to the latter and the recognition by the Italian state of the new state under the sovereign power of the Holy See. Thus ended the so-called Roman question, which had opened on 20 Sept. 1870 with the entry of the Italian army into Rome, putting an end to the state of the Church and the temporal power of the popes. From that moment until the signing of the Lateran Pacts, the popes who had alternated had not recognized the Italian state and had considered themselves prisoners in the Vatican palaces. With the Lateran Pacts, by ceding the sovereignty of this small territory to the Holy See, Italy guaranteed the new state the most complete freedom from any interference and the pope absolute independence as the spiritual head of Catholicism; for his part, the pontiff recognized the kingdom of Italy with Rome as its capital. On 7 June 1929, the very day of the entry into force of the treaty, the Constitution of the City of Vatican was also issued, to be observed as the law of the State. With this, the recognition by the Holy See of the kingdom of Italy with Rome as its capital was implemented, and that, by Italy, of the State of the City of Vatican under the sovereignty of the pope. In 1984 the Prime Minister B. Craxi stipulated a new concordat with the Holy See which canceled some norms established in 1929 considered anachronistic. The State of the City of Vatican has some particular characteristics that distinguish it from any other State. It is a body endowed with its own personality under international law and, therefore, with its own capacity to act distinct from the personality and capacities of the Holy See; it remains, however, inextricably linked to the Holy See, because its supreme body is, institutionally, the sovereign body of the Apostolic See, that is, the pope. It constitutes, with respect to the Holy See, a patrimonial state whose organization is based on canon law. As a consequence of the Holy See’s extraneousness from temporal competitions between the States, the State of the City of Vatican is neutral. Its population is composed, in addition to the pontiff, of about 500 citizens (2010 estimate), including cardinals residing in the State or in Rome, members of the diplomatic representations of the Holy See, ecclesiastics and religious, lay people (partly military members of the Swiss Guard); other people reside in the State of the City of Vatican without having citizenship. The entire territory is placed under the protection of the Hague Convention of May 14, 1954, concerning the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict; moreover, according to the UNESCO Convention (1972), the City of Vatican belongs to the artistic heritage of humanity. The government of the State of the City of Vatican it is governed by the law in force since 1 July 1969, consisting of 6 articles. It establishes that, except for what the fundamental law of June 1929 declares, the supreme pontiff exercises legislative and executive powers through a commission of cardinals, appointed by him for a five-year term. The commission is assisted by a special delegate, appointed by the pope, who is responsible for exercising executive power; from 1st Jan. 1988, the law that approved the new judicial system came into force in the State. Since feb. of 2001 in the State of the City of Vatican a new Basic Law replaced the one enacted in 1929. The reform was designed to “give systematic and organic form to the changes introduced in successive phases in the legal system” in order to “make it better and better suited to the institutional aims”. Among the novelties, the elimination of the figure of the governor of the state (a post vacant since 1952), the redefinition of the relations between the secretariat of state and the other governing bodies, the indication of a procedure for the resolution of labor disputes between government employees and administration. A large group of real estate, in relation to the Lateran Pacts and subsequent agreements with Italy, enjoys the immunities recognized by international law to the offices of diplomatic agents of foreign states, as well as exemption from expropriations. The diplomatic activity of the Holy See, whose action in the international field has been recognized for centuries, finds its raison d’etre in the particular apostolic mission that the pontiff exercises in the context of the Catholic Church and in the world. The City of Vatican is a member of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) and permanent observer to the UN and FAO.

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