Flag of the Vatican City

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The flag of the Vatican City consists of two vertical bands of gold (hoist side) and white with the crossed keys of Saint Peter and the Papal Tiara centered in the white band. It is one of only two square country flags in the world, the other being the flag of Switzerland.

The flag was adopted on June 7, 1929. In the same year Pope Pius XI signed a treaty with Italy, ensuring that the Papal State, albeit its territory had been decreased, will continue to exist as an independent state. In previous centuries (especially in the 19th century) the Papal States used a purple and gold flag, which resembled the current one.

The square flag is vertically divided into two halves, the half closer to the flagpole is yellow, the other is white. The coat of arms can be found in the white half. The coat of arms consists of:

• the papal tiara (as used under the pontificate of Pius XI);
• the two keys which represent the keys to Heaven (according to the Gospel of Matthew 16:19) given by Jesus Christ to St. Peter. The popes are regarded as the successor of Peter, and the gold and silver keys have been significant elements in the symbolism of the Papal State since the 14th century. The gold represents spiritual power, while the silver key represents wordly power.
• a red cord connecting the keys.

Oratory Church of St Aloysius Gonzaga, Oxford, with the flag of the Vatican City flying at half mast the day after the death of Pope John Paul II.

The yellow and white of the flag also refers to the keys – in heraldry yellow is used to represent gold, while white represents silver. The keys also play an important role in diplomacy: since the flag is a symbol of both Vatican City and the Holy See – the former being a small European state while the latter refers to the pope's authority over the Roman Catholic world – the flag is used in the above depicted form when it is used to symbolise the state, and is used with the keys reversed (with the silver key's handle on the left) when it is used as a symbol of the Church as a whole (as an example see Benedict XVI's coat of arms).

The symbolism behind the red cord connecting the two keys is debated; it might refer to the priesthood which connects Earth and Heaven.

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