Why is Vatican City considered an independent state?

The Pope and the Catholic Church were never part of the Italian nation-state, but rather always operated their own state and even police and army since the middle ages. In fact, the The Pope was considered the ruler of an area called the Papal States until 1870 when Italy declared war and seized Rome. read more

Let us examine these eight criteria in regard to the Vatican City, a tiny (the smallest in the world) country located entirely within the city of Rome, Italy. The Vatican City is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church, with over one billion adherents worldwide. read more

Vatican City (/ ˈ v æ t ɪ k ən ˈ s ɪ t i / ( listen); Italian: Città del Vaticano [tʃitˈta ddel vatiˈkaːno]; Latin: Civitas Vaticana), officially Vatican City State or State of Vatican City (Italian: Stato della Città del Vaticano; Latin: Status Civitatis Vaticanae), is an independent state located within the city of Rome. read more

It goes back to Italian unification and then to Mussolini. When Italy was unified in 1862, Turin was the capital, and Rome was the capital of what was left of the Pope’s Estates, the Papal States. read more