Vatican

From Turtledove

The State of the Vatican City is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome. At approximately 44 hectares (108.7 acres), it is the smallest independent nation in the world.

It was created in 1929 by the Lateran Treaty as a vestige of the much larger Papal States (756 to 1870). Vatican City is a non-hereditary, elected monarchy that is ruled by the Bishop of Rome — the Pope. The highest state functionaries are all clergymen of the Catholic Church. Vatican City can be said to be the governmental capital of the Catholic Church.

[edit] Vatican in "Before the Beginning"

The Vactian was the first country to convert en masse to Judaism after it was learned that the Jews were indeed God's chosen people.

[edit] Vatican in The Gladiator

The Vatican was probably the only country in the world that was not communist. Despite communism's anti-religious stance, the Soviet Union also realized the importance of religion to nearly every country's sense of national identity, and so left the Vatican alone.