Yearbook 2008
Vatican City. The Vatican’s intentions to sanctify the disputed Pope Pius XII were met by criticism from several quarters, including from Israel. Pius, who was pope in 1939–58, has been criticized for not openly renouncing Nazi Germany’s genocide of six million Jews. In 2007, a decree came from the Vatican acknowledging Pius’ “heroic virtues”, which is a first step in the process of proclaiming saints. In October 2008, the Pope said that Pius had worked “in secret and silence” to save Jews and that he hoped that Pius’s path to saints would be happy.
- ABBREVIATIONFINDER: Click to see the meanings of 2-letter acronym and abbreviation of VT in general and in geography as Vatican in particular.
During the year, the Vatican modernized the classic seven sins to better suit a globalized world. The seven deadly sins of the day are: environmental destruction, gene manipulation, accumulating excessive wealth, causing poverty, drug trafficking and drug use, morally questionable experiments and violations of human nature’s fundamental rights. The seven traditional sins of sin are pride, envy, chills, lust, anger, greed and laziness.
Population 2008
According to Countryaah reports, the population of Vatican City in 2008 was 683, ranking number 235 in the world. The population growth rate was -0.100% yearly, and the population density was 0.0000 people per km2.