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Vatican City State

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The Papal States ceased to exist when Italian troops went into Rome in 1870. Pope Pius IX retreated to the Vatican. There, he declared himself a prisoner and refused to recognize the Italian State. The Vatican City State was created in 1929 through the Lateran Treaty between the Papacy and the Italian government, when the Vatican relinquished sovereignty over the former papal states.

In 1989, the Vatican had 749 inhabitants. 402 of these had Vatican citizenship.
Italian is the official language, but Latin is the traditional language of the Holy See. It is used in official statements from the Holy See and at the Papal Gregorian University (Pontificia Università Gregoriana). The Swiss Guards, the bodyguard of the Pope, consists of over a hundred persons who speak Swiss German.