Where Is The Vatican?: By Megan Stine

Since my mother and I have some time in Rome between flights in about a month or so, I thought I would do a bit of investigation into the Vatican City, and at least see the sort of things that are written about it for general audiences. This book is by no means a detailed examination of the history of the Vatican City, but it does offer a history that presents what the current papal establishment wants people to believe about the capital of the Roman Catholic Church. In reading this book, I found at least a few things that I was rather skeptical about, but at the same time it was an informative book when it talked about matters of architecture and institutions, and that makes this book a worthwhile read, especially for young readers who take an interest in geography and who have parents capable of correcting the book’s pro-Catholic bias and the misinformation it presents about Christian origins. If this book is not wholly worth recommendation, it is at least a worthwhile read if one approaches it from a critical but appreciative perspective.

In terms of its contents, this book is a bit more than 100 pages, somewhat large text, with a fair amount of illustrations (including a helpful map of the Vatican City and what it contains). The book begins with the titular question of the book, answering where the Vatican City is as a small part of the city of Rome that is surrounded by Italy’s capital. After that the book delves into pseudohistory with an account of Rome as being a safe place for Christians. The author then turns her attention to the struggles for power of the medieval popes who ruled over the Papal States and dealt with (and sometimes quarreled with) various emperors and other rulers. Then comes the reconstruction of St. Peter’s Basilica in the 16th century, which allows the author to briefly discuss the beginnings of the Protestant reformation. The next two chapters look at the birth of the Vatican City as a new country after the Papal States were largely conquered by the Italian army in 1870-1871, as well as St. Peter’s Basilica being the largest church in the world. The rest of the book then turns from matters of history to a discussion of the sorts of contents and actions that take place in the contemporary Vatican City, including the treasures of the Vatican, the secret archives that are open to researchers with official permission, the Vatican in modern times, the private world of the pope, and a year in the life of a pope. The book concludes with timelines and a bibliography.

It appears, looking at this book in some detail, that this particular book is part of a series that is at least somewhat officially connected with the Roman Catholic church and its approach. Other books in the WHOHQ series include a book on Pope Francis that seeks to praise him for his simplicity and desire to relate to others, a discussion of the Colosseum (part of which was re-used for the Vatican construction of the late Renaissance), as well as books on Jesus and the Ten Commandments that likely share the same sort of biases as this particular book. One can tell that the author re-uses bits from other books into this particular book, so some overlap can easily be imagined existing within the series as a whole. Despite the fact that the book gives undue credence to some of the supposed icons of faith that can be found in the Vatican City and gives perhaps too much praise to the contemporary self-criticism and openness of the Catholic Church, there is still a fair amount of worthwhile information to be found, including a detailed discussion of the buildings and gardens that are found within the Vatican City, many of which are off-limits to tourists, as well as a discussion of gardens, the Vatican jail, police force, Swiss Guard, and fire department. These touches add a great deal of information value to this volume.