Title: Vatican City: Civil and Church Government | Infoplease
Headings: Vatican City: Civil and Church Government
Vatican City: Civil and Church Government
Content: Vatican City: Civil and Church Government | Infoplease
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Vatican City: Civil and Church Government
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Vatican City: Civil and Church Government
Enter your search terms: The civil government of Vatican City is headed by the cardinal president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City, which is the state's legislature; the state is governed under the Fundamental Law of 2000. The legal system is based on canon law, and the courts are part of the judicial system of the church. The only court special to Vatican City is a court of first instance for civil and criminal cases arising in the city. The Vatican is above all the seat of the central government of the Roman Catholic Church. Because of the papacy 's vast interest in temporal as well as spiritual affairs, an elaborate bureaucracy has been developed over the course of centuries.