B. The Vatican’s weekly news broadcast is followed by a half-hour show with Latin conversation - and tips in Italian on using the language of ancient Rome in a modern setting. Italian, the Vatican’s second official language, is a Romance language like French, Portuguese, Romanian and Spanish. They all evolved from Latin.

Q: The Vatican City State, also called the Holy See, gained sovereignty in a 1929 treaty with the Italian government of Fascist leader Benito Mussolini. What is the size of Vatican City?

A. 110 square miles

B. 11 square miles

C. 1,110 acres

D. 110 acres

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D. The Vatican is the smallest independent state in the world and completely surrounded by Rome, Italy’s capital. It is a tiny fragment when compared with the extensive Papal States, which were conquered during the unification of Italy in the 19th century. It has a population of about 1,000.

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Q: What is the government of Vatican City State?

A. Absolute monarchy

B. Democracy

C. Dictatorship

D. Republic

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A. The Pope is both the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and the head of state of Vatican City. He is elected by Cardinals of the church and serves as an absolute monarch until he dies or resigns.

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Q: In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI started an academy to promote the use of Latin in the Church and beyond. He resigned in 2013 and was replaced by Pope Francis who had been archbishop of Buenos Aires in . . .

A. Argentina

B. Bavaria

C. Brazil

D. Spain

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A. Born in Argentina in 1936, Pope Francis is the first pope from the Americas and the first from the Southern Hemisphere.

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