Europe

Vatican City

Political journey

The world’s smallest state, created by the 1929 Lateran Treaty between the Holy See and Italy, ending a dispute that began when Rome joined Italy in 1870. It is an elective absolute monarchy whose ruler is the pope, chosen by the College of Cardinals. Leo XIV, the first pope from the United States, was elected in 2025.

Vatican City today

Its current leader’s position on the ten Caucus dimensions.

💰EconomySlightly state-led
State-ledFree market
⚖️Liberty and authoritySlightly authoritarian
LibertarianAuthoritarian
🎭CultureLeaning traditional
ProgressiveTraditional
🌍NationLeaning globalist
GlobalistNationalist
🌱EnvironmentLeaning nature-first
Growth-firstNature-first
🤖TechnologyLeaning tech-cautious
Tech-cautiousTech-optimist
🕊️War and peaceStrongly peace-first
Peace-firstStrength-first
🏛️InstitutionsStrongly institutional
Anti-establishmentInstitutional
🙏ReligionStrongly religious
SecularReligious
🛡️InterventionismSlightly non-interventionist
Non-interventionistInterventionist

Who leads Vatican City today

Portrait of Pope Leo XIV

Pope Leo XIV

Pope and sovereign of Vatican City, 2025 to present

The first pope from the United States, elected in May 2025 after the death of Pope Francis.

Pope Leo XIV sits in the left-authoritarian part of the Caucus economy and liberty compass: slightly state-led and slightly authoritarian. The clearest positions are strongly religious on religion, strongly institutional on institutions and strongly peace-first on war and peace.

Full profile of Pope Leo XIV →

Political views closest to Vatican City’s leadership

Other people from Vatican City

Countries with similar leadership

Ranked by how close their current leaders are on the ten dimensions.

Country histories are short summaries. Positions are simplified estimates of the leaders included in Caucus as of October 2026, and percentages show how close two profiles are across all ten dimensions.