Vatican City

Vatican City is the smallest country in the world: it is 110 acres, and has a population of around 800 people. It was established in 1929 to resolve the conflict between the Vatican and the King of Italy, who conquered Rome during the War of Unification (1861), making the pope a (self-imposed) "Prisoner in the Vatican."

Sarah and I attended Pope Francis' inauguration, known as the Mass of Inauguration of the Bishop of Rome's Petrine Ministry, on March 19th.

The best picture of Pope Francis I could take. He drove around the crowd for a while in an open-top car.

The Cardinals

Pope Francis prepares Communion.

Priests ventured into the crowd so everyone could participate in Communion.

So many people, so many flags. It's estimated that there were over 200,000 people at the inaugural mass.

The papal seal coats the buildings of Rome and the Vatican. Usually they are made of plain marble, but this one in the Vatican Museum was painted.

The Vatican Museum houses the oldest known man-made tool. It is ~2 million years old.

When you have a giant hallway filled with marble Roman statues and busts, they kind of lose their luster.

Here's one of the Scipio caskets stolen from the tomb I visited on the Appian Way.

The museum had its fair share of looted Egyptian artifacts as well.

The most amazing thing about the museum wasn't the Sistine Chapel; it's the ceilings. This long hallway was covered with enormous tapestries and the ceiling was painted to look like etched marble.

This is the most amazing room in the museum. The walls of this very long hallway were covered with paintings of the provinces of Italy, and the roof was covered with glowing scenes of wealth and luxury. This is where your money used to go if you gave it to the Church...

The School of Athens by Raphael

Another ceiling

The infamous Borgia Pope's private apartment

The museum had a particularly odd modern art section leading to the Sistine Chapel (where you can't take pictures, but it would be impossible to capture Michelangelo's genius and Pope Julius II's great success with a camera anyway).

The Swiss Guard

St. Peter's Basilica is pretty amazing. It took 120 years to build (1506-1626), is one of the largest churches in the world, is filled with the works of great Renaissance artists, and many popes are buried under it.

Truth by Bernini

Baptismal Font