🇻🇦 The colours of Vatican City
4 meanings recorded.
Vatican City's flag features yellow and white, with the white side displaying the Holy See's emblem. These colours represent gold and silver, reflecting the two keys in the emblem, and together symbolise the authority of the papacy. The flag is closely linked to Catholic identity worldwide.
Where no official value is given, the swatch shows the colour family, not the exact shade.
- Vatican City's flag is one of only two national flags that are square.
- The yellow and white colours symbolise gold and silver keys.
- The flag's design dates back to papal flags used from 1825.
- It is often displayed at Catholic churches worldwide.
- The flag was first raised at the UN headquarters in 2015.
The colours of the flag of Vatican City
The Vatican City flag is divided vertically into two equal halves: yellow next to the flagpole and white on the outer side. On the white half sits the Holy See's emblem, which includes the papal tiara and two crossed keys. The yellow and white are not just decorative; they stand for gold and silver, the materials of the keys in the emblem. These colours are officially recognised and are also used as a sign of Catholic faith, often seen at churches around the world.
How the colours were chosen of Vatican City
Before 1808, the Papal States used yellow and red, colours linked to both the Holy See's coat of arms and the Roman Senate. In 1808, red was swapped for white to set papal troops apart from those under Napoleon. The yellow and white combination, drawn from the gold and silver keys, became standard for papal flags from 1825. After the Lateran Treaty in 1929, Vatican City adopted this bicolour flag as its own, using the design from the earlier Papal States' merchant flag.
Official shades and rules of Vatican City
Vatican law describes the flag as two vertical bands, yellow by the hoist and white on the fly, with the emblem on the white half. The law includes a visual model as an attachment. Although the flag is usually square, it is not required to be so. Official documents from 1929, 2000, and 2023 all specify the same basic design.
The facts in this overview come from the Wikipedia article "Flag of Vatican City", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Rang rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
What colours mean in Vatican City
Customs vary by region, faith and family; these are the meanings most often recorded.
Cardinals wear scarlet. The colour means that they must be ready to shed their blood for the faith.
Sacred and holyCourageSource: Cardinal (Catholic Church)The flag is yellow and white, for the gold and silver keys of Saint Peter. It is one of only two square national flags.
Sacred and holyPolitics and protestSource: Flag of Vatican CityBishops wear a red-purple shade called amaranth. Priests wear violet vestments in Advent and Lent, the seasons of waiting and penance.
Sacred and holySource: Liturgical coloursThe pope wears a white cassock. When cardinals elect a new pope, white smoke rises from the Sistine Chapel chimney, and black smoke means no decision.
Sacred and holyPurity and peaceHopeSource: ConclaveNo colour page is tied to Vatican City yet. The catalogue grows every day.