Let me ask you something real quick, what in your opinion is the weirdest country on
Earth?
I’m not looking for special, fact-based answers, I just want gut feelings.
What country are you thinking of?
North Korea?
Liechtenstein?
Bhutan?
The US?
(We are absolutely a weird country) Well feel free to discuss your picks in the comments,
but if you’re good at reading titles, you’ll know my pick: Vatican City.
So why did I pick Vatican City, and can I string together a bunch of different facts
to kind of prove my argument but really just take up 6-8 minutes of your time?
Well yeah, this is KhAnubis you’re watching.
Okay, this is Earth, this is the Afro-Eurasian landmass, and this is Europe, where Vatican
City is located.
Now the Vatican is a city-state, but we’re going to have to zoom in way further to see
where it is.
There’s Italy, there’s Lazio, there’s the city of Rome, and here’s Vatican City,
the smallest country in the world in terms of both physical size (at around 0.44 km^2)
and population (with a population of around 800).
Superimposed over Berlin, the country is barely larger than Alexanderplatz.
The Vatican’s small size also brings with it the challenges it faces acting like other
sovereign nations, which is where I’d argue it starts truly becoming quite strange.
For one, literally the only way you can get in or out is through Italy, the Vatican is
landlocked (and doesn’t even reach the Tiber River), doesn’t have any air travel because
it’s physically smaller than most airports, and only has a small railway branch line that
only serves tourists once a week.
Combined with how impossible it is to enter the Vatican without going through Italy, and
the crowds of tourists coming in for a few hours during their trip to Rome, and it makes
it kind of obvious why they are basically treated as a kind of extension of the Schengen
Area (also they have no hotels, so it’s really just a day-trip destination).
So why does this place exist?
Well I’m sure it’s painfully obvious, but one word: Catholicism.
The Vatican is what’s left of the Papal States, and is the seat of the Holy See and
the Bishop of Rome, also known as the Pope.
As such it essentially serves as a kind of capital of the Roman Catholic Church around
the world.
The Pope is, as I’m sure you already know from that CGP Grey video, also the king of
Vatican City, and has first and final say over everything that happens within its borders.
This includes the notable question of Vatican citizenship.
The citizens of Vatican City consist of the Cardinals, diplomats of the Holy See, and
members of the Swiss Guard.
Since the Vatican is basically the capital of the Catholic Church (to blatantly oversimplify
everything) the Vatican populace is 100% Roman Catholic, and since you have to be a man to
so much as become a Catholic priest, it is also 100% male.
Perhaps related to the fact that the Vatican population is made up entirely of celebate
men (and there are no hospitals), no one is born a Vatican citizen, meaning that 100%
of the Vatican populace is also an immigrant.
Here’s another wack thing about this little country, the entire country is a UNESCO World
Heritage Site.
Actually that’s kind of a lie, the country is actually contained within a UNESCO World
Heritage Site, that being the entire Historic Center of Rome.
The site covers all of Rome’s actually historic center, the Vatican itself, and the properties
held by the Holy See in Rome outside the Vatican, of which there are actually quite a few, including
the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, Palace
of St. Callixtus, as well as the Palace of the Holy Office (which is literally just outside
the country) and the Paul VI Audience Hall, of which the throne room is literally within
the Vatican, guys was Italy really this nitpicky about all this?
While we’re all talking about how weird of a country Vatican City is, and how many
extraterritorial holdings it has, perhaps we should also briefly talk about the Sovereign
Military Order of Malta, also based in Rome.
This sovereign entity, not to be confused with the very-much actual country of Malta,
is a somewhat secretive order that originally ran a hospital in Jerusalem before the Crusades,
and then became a military order during the Crusades.
They are now based in Rome, which also holds the only territory they technically hold,
that being their headquarters and other holdings.
This makes the city of Rome home to three different sovereign governments (obviously
including the Italian Republic).
After hearing about all these strange facts about the place, surely you’re probably
wondering to yourself, is Vatican City truly a country?
Is it really fair to call it a country if it doesn’t function as a country normally
does?
Yes, it is.
The Vatican is recognized as a country by basically everyone, including Italy itself,
even if it may function less as a country and more as an independent, semi-neutral territory
for the Catholic Church to conduct their business without the interference of local politics.
It’s a little like how the UN Headquarters in New York, although in the United States,
is not subject to the same laws as its surroundings; or if we’re willing to stretch this definition,
like how Washington DC is a federal district of the United States that isn’t part of
any state, allowing the federal government to conduct itself without the interference
of state politics, although that’s definitely pushing it since DC is actually inhabited
by, you know, normal people.
The Vatican might be a weird country compared to all others, but it is still a real country
nonetheless.
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-Well I think my skills would do quite well for the company, and so I‘d be a good fit.
--Alright okay, I‘m liking your profile thus far, and I think you would definitely
be a good fit here.
I just have one more question…
-Okay...
--Do you watch Curiositystream?
-Uh...
No, not really?
--Yeah we really can’t do anything for you, sorry.
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