Languages of Vatican City

Inscription in Italian over the entrance to the Vatican Museums.

Official| Italian, Latin

Vatican City uses Italian in its official documents and as its main working language. However, many other languages are also used by institutions situated within the state, such as the Holy See and the Swiss Guard, as well as personally by its diverse population.

## History

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During the Roman Empire, Latin was the language spoken in the area corresponding to the present Vatican City. The subsequent Papal States also used Latin for official purposes during the first centuries of their existence. In 1870, the area became part of the Kingdom of Italy, whose official language was Italian.

In 1929, the Lateran Treaty established Vatican City as an independent state. The Fundamental Law of Vatican City State does not establish an official language, but its laws are published in Italian in a supplement to the Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See), which is mainly in Latin.

Since the state came into existence in 1929, most of the buildings situated within it predated it by centuries. Inscriptions can be found in them mainly in Latin, but also in Italian, Greek, French and German.[1][better source needed]

## Present languages

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Many languages are spoken within the state, as its inhabitants come from many countries. Italian is the lingua franca of the Vatican and replaced Latin as the official language of the Synod of Bishops in 2014.[2] The Holy See, the entity with authority over the state (yet legally distinct), uses Latin as its official language and Italian as its main working language in administrative and diplomatic affairs. French is also sometimes used as a diplomatic language. In the Swiss Guard, Swiss German is the language used for giving commands, but the individual guards take their oath of loyalty in their own languages: German, French, Italian or Romansh.

Since the state was established, the native languages of the popes have been Italian, Polish, German, Spanish, and English.

## Websites

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The official website of Vatican City is in Italian.[3] Previous versions of the website were also available in English, French, German and Spanish.[4]

The official website of the Holy See is primarily in Italian, with versions in English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish, and partial versions in Arabic, Chinese and Latin.[5] Some content is also available in many other languages, such as Albanian, Belarusian, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Russian, Slovak, Slovene, Swahili and Ukrainian.[6][7]

The Holy See's newspaper L'Osservatore Romano is published in Italian, English, French, German, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish.[8] The Vatican News website is available in many languages: Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, English, Esperanto, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Hindi, Hungarian, Kannada, Malayalam, Macedonian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tamil, Tigrinya, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.[9]

## See also

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* Vatican City portal
* Languages portal

* Index of Vatican City-related articles
* Ecclesiastical Latin, the form of Latin used by the Church in its documents.
* Living Latin
* Romanesco, the vernacular spoken in Rome around the Vatican City.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Camposanto Teutonico
2. ^ Peri, Claudio (October 6, 2014). "Pope ditches Latin as official language of Vatican synod". Reuters. Reuters. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
3. ^ "Home". www.vaticanstate.va. Retrieved 2023-09-02.
4. ^ "Vatican City State" (in Italian). Archived from the original on 2013-02-14.
5. ^ The Holy See (in Italian)
6. ^ Apostolic exhortations, Holy See.
7. ^ Messages World Youth Day, Holy See.
8. ^ L'Osservatore Romano
9. ^ Vatican News

* v
* t
* e

Vatican City articles

* Index
* Outline
* Holy See
* Properties
* Pope: Leo XIV
* List of sovereigns
* Vicar General for Vatican City

History|

* History of the papacy
* "Prisoner in the Vatican"
* Circus of Nero
* Old St. Peter's Basilica
* Papal tombs
* Navicella
* Leonine City
* Cortile del Belvedere
* Santo Stefano degli Ungheresi
* Lateran Treaty
* Borgo Nuovo
* Borgo Vecchio
* Piazza Scossacavalli

Geography|

| Major basilica|

| St. Peter's Basilica|

* Chair of Saint Peter
* Door of the Dead
* Monument to the Royal Stuarts
* St. Peter's Baldachin
* Saint Longinus
* Pietà
* Vatican Necropolis
* Saint Peter's tomb
* Papal tombs
* Tomb of the Julii
* Vatican Grottoes

|

Apostolic Palace|

* Redemptoris Mater Chapel
* Borgia Apartments
* Clementine Hall
* Loggias
* Papal apartments
* Stufetta del cardinal Bibbiena
* Cappella Paolina
* Raphael Rooms
* Niccoline Chapel
* Sala Ducale
* Sala Regia
* Scala Regia
* The Vision of Constantine
* Sistine Chapel
* altarpiece
* ceiling
* Room of Tears

Vatican Museums|

* Historical
* Paintings
* Modern and Contemporary Art
* Pio-Clementino
* Chiaramonti
* Gregoriano Etrusco
* Gregoriano Egiziano
* Pio Cristiano
* Ethnographic
* Bramante Staircase
* Maps

* Gregorian Tower
* Casina Pio IV
* Sant'Anna dei Palafrenieri
* Domus Sanctae Marthae
* Holy Spirit Chapel
* Gardens
* Santa Maria della Pietà in Camposanto dei Teutonici
* Collegio Teutonico
* Teutonic Cemetery
* Mater Ecclesiae Monastery
* Sant'Egidio in Borgo
* Santi Martino e Sebastiano degli Svizzeri
* Paul VI Audience Hall
* The Resurrection
* Passetto di Borgo
* San Pellegrino in Vaticano
* St. Peter's Square
* Via della Conciliazione
* Fountains
* Porta San Pellegrino
* Ricciolo d'Italia
* Saint John's Tower
* Santo Stefano degli Abissini
* Vatican Pharmacy
* Vatican Hill

Politics|

* Elections
* Foreign relations
* Vicar General
* Law

* Crime
* Fundamental Law

Governance|

* Pope Leo XIV
* Cardinal Secretary of State Vacant

Government|

* Roman Curia
* Apostolic Camera
* Commissions
* For Vatican City State
* Councils
* Congregations
* Dicasteries

Military|

* Corps of Gendarmerie
* Swiss Guard
* See also: Corps of Firefighters

Economy|

* Banking
* Vatican euro coins
* Communications
* .va [Internet domain]
* Poste Vaticane
* Postage stamps and postal history
* Homelessness
* Secretariat for the Economy
* Tourism

Infrastructure|

* Transport
* Heliport
* Rail

Culture|

* Academy of Sciences
* AT telescope
* observatory
* Architecture
* Archives
* Apostolic Archive
* Climate Forest
* Demographics
* Languages
* Library
* film
* Music
* Sistine Chapel Choir
* Philatelic and Numismatic Office
* Public holidays

| Media|

* Holy See Press Office
* Vatican Information Service
* Vatican Media
* Vatican News
* Vatican Radio
* Vatican Television Center
* Vatican News App
* Vatican Publishing House
* Acta Apostolicae Sedis
* Annuario Pontificio
* L'Osservatore Romano
* Pope2you

|

Religion|

* Catholic Church

Symbols|

* Anthem
* Coat of arms
* Flag

Sports|

* Amateur Sports Association
* Cricket team
* National football team (Men)
* National football team (Women)
* Vatican Athletics

* Vatican City portal
* Catholic Church portal

* v
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* e

Languages of Europe

Sovereign states|

* Albania
* Andorra
* Armenia
* Austria
* Azerbaijan
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* Cyprus
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*   * Italy
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* Serbia
* Slovakia
* Slovenia
* Spain
* Sweden
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* Turkey
* Ukraine
* United Kingdom
* England
* Northern Ireland
* Scotland
* Wales
* Vatican City

States with limited
recognition|

* Abkhazia
* Kosovo
* Northern Cyprus
* South Ossetia
* Transnistria

Dependencies and
other entities|

* Åland
* Faroe Islands
* Gibraltar
* Guernsey
* Isle of Man
* Jersey
* Svalbard

Other entities|

* European Union
* Sovereign Military Order of Malta

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