(Short Conversation) Vatican City and Some Popes

A: Do you know some information about Vatican City?

B: Not much. It's a landlocked sovereign country, city-state, microstate, and enclave within Rome, Italy. It became independent from Italy in 1929 with the Lateran Treaty. The official and national language is Italian. The currency is Euro. 

A: How wide is the city? How much is the population?

B: The wide of the area is 0,49 km square. The population recorded in 2023 was 764. It's so small that make Vatican City as the smallest state in the world both by area and by population. 

A: How much is the GDP? How does this country get its economical growth? How is the governmental system?

B: The GDP is 14.859.970 Euro (total) and 19.450+ Euro (per capita). Vatican City gets its economical growth through tourist attraction, such as museums, coins and stamps selling. Legislative functions are administered by the Pope but also delegated to the Pontifical Commission for Vatican State, led by the President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican State. Its members are cardinals appointed by the Pope for terms of 5 years.  

A: How many Popes are there so far? Who is the present Pope today?

B: Many... 266 Popes. Some of the longest-reigning Popes were Pope Pius IX (1846-1878), Pope St. John Paul II (1978-2005), and Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903). The shortest-reigning Popes were Pope Urban VII (September 1590) reigned for 13 calendar days, Pope Boniface VI (April 896) reigned for 16 calendar days, and  Pope Theodore II (December 897) reigned for 20 calendar days. The present Pope today is Pope Francis, born as Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires (Argentina) in 1936 to a family of Italian immigrants. He was elected as Pope on March 13, 2013. 

A: Isn't there any crime in Vatican City? How did the criminals get arrested?

B: Yes, strangely enough there're many crimes there. Crime in Vatican City consists largely of purse snatching, pickpocketing, and shoplifting by outsiders. The tourist foot-traffic in St. Peter's Square is one of the main locations for pickpockets in Vatican City. There's no prison system in Vatican City, apart from a few detention cells for pre-trial detentions. People committing crime will be arrested by Italian authorities, since the area is normally patrolled by Italian police.