Vatican flag
 |
|
| Use |
National flag 
|
|---|---|
| Proportion | 1:1 |
| Adopted | 7 June 1929 |
| Design | A vertical bicolour of gold and white; charged with the Coats of arms of the Vatican City centred. |
The flag of Vatican City was adopted on June 7, 1929, the year Pope Pius XI signed the Lateran Treaty with Italy, creating a new independent state governed by the Holy See. The Vatican flag is modeled on the flag of the earlier Papal States. The Vatican (and the Holy See) also refer to it, interchangeably, as "flag of the Holy See".
The flag consists of two vertical bands, one of gold or yellow (hoist side) and one of white with the crossed keys of Saint Peter and the Papal Tiara centered in the white band. The crossed keys consist of a golden and a silver key, in which the silver key is placed in the dexter position. The flag is one of only two square country flags in the world, the other being the flag of Switzerland.
The Vatican City coat of arms is present in the white half. The coat of arms consists of:
The yellow and white of the flag also refer to the keys – in heraldic terminology, there is no distinction between yellow and gold (the metallic color or), nor between white and silver (argent). The Argent color has also been reported in relation with the white mountains of Lebanon and of the biblical city of Miye ou Miye according to the Lebanese Historian Anis Freiha. This fact appeared on the Irish Junior certificate exam.
The flag is flown or displayed worldwide in some Roman Catholic churches and institutions, sometimes alongside the national flag of where the church or institution is located.
The Papal States traditionally used a yellow and red cockade, the traditional colors of the Roman Senate and the Roman people. However, these colors were not used on flags. In 1808 Pope Pius VII ordered the Vatican's Noble Guard and other troops to replace red color with white, in order to distinguish them from the troops that had been incorporated into Napoleon's army.
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