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Vatican
built 294 days ago
The Vatican Observatory is one of the oldest astronomical institutes in the world and the only research group directly supported by the Holy See. The church funds the observatory to the tune of about $1 million a year, leaving its operation to the Jesuits, a religious order whose "charism," or special gift to the church, is scholarship.
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The Vatican is above all the seat of the central government of the Roman Catholic Church. Because of the papacy’s vast interest in temporal as well as spiritual affairs, an elaborate bureaucracy has been developed over the course of centuries. The pope governs the church with the College of Cardinals. He may act as he chooses without their consent, but in practice he relies on the cardinals for advice as well as for administration of the church government. The whole administrative body surrounding the pope and responsible to him is called the Curia Romana.
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The Vatican has no set official language, it can be changed at any moment by the current Pope.[24] The language most often used for the authoritative version of official documents of the Catholic Church or emanating from the Pope is Latin. However, Italian and, to a lesser extent, other languages are generally used for most conversations, publications, and broadcasts and most documents or other communications dealing directly with the Vatican as a state are most easily available in Italian. In the Swiss Guard, German is the language used for giving commands, but the individual guards take their oath of loyalty in their own languages, German, French or Italian. The Vatican's official website languages are Italian, German, English, French, and Spanish.
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Does not apply, as the Vatican does not really have foreign trade. Its entire economy is based on tourism and donations (known as Peter's Pence) from Catholics around the world. However, the Vatican remains extremely wealthy despite its complete lack of natural resources because of the priceless artwork it possesses.
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The Second Vatican Council shows the power of courageous individuals in tune with the signs of the times and open to the Spirit to make history. Pope John XXIII convoked this universal synod -- the largest and first ever truly global ecumenical council -- and became its beacon. It seems more than pure coincidence that the name chosen by Angelo Roncalli would link him clearly to Pope John XXII, who in the Bull Quia Quorundam (1324) had condemned the Franciscan teaching of papal infallibility as inspired by the pater mendacii (father of lies). But the Council might still have turned into little more than 2500 bishops agreeing on the agenda and routinely rubber-stamping documents sent down from above -- prepared in advance and circulated by various commissions -- if it had not been for Achille Cardinal Lienart's courageous wake-upcall at the very beginning of the first working session. The French Cardinal, seconded by Joseph Cardinal Frings of Cologne, challenged the assembled fathers to take personal control of the proceedings and claim the Council authentically for themselves -- to elect representatives from national groups, to write their own documents, to forge coalitions and learn to dialogue -- in sum, to work ground-up from the episcopal grassroots and give the democratic process a chance.
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Alperin v. Vatican Bank was originally filed in Federal Court in San Francisco in November 1999. The plaintiffs are concentration camp survivors of Serb, Jewish, and Ukrainian background and their relatives as well as organizations representing over 300,000 Holocaust victims.
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