noun
- Also called Vatican Palace. the chief residence of the popes in Vatican City, now also including a library, archives, art museum, apartments, and administrative offices.
- the authority and government of the pope (distinguished from the Quirinal).
noun
noun
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- the palace of the popes in Rome and their principal residence there since 1377, which includes administrative offices, a library, museum, etc, and is attached to the basilica of St Peter’s
- (as modifier)the Vatican Council
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- the authority of the Pope and the papal curia
- (as modifier)a Vatican edict
1550s, from Latin mons Vaticanus, Roman hill on which Papal palace stands. An Etruscan loan-word, not related to vates “sooth-sayer.”
The popular name for the Second Vatican Council, an assembly of all the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church held from 1962 to 1965. The bishops ordered a large-scale liberalization and modernization of practices in their church.