Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Vatican

Vatican , noun

[Latin Vaticanus, mons, or collis, Vaticanus, the Vatican hill, in Rome, on the western bank of the Tiber: compare French Vatican, Italian Vaticano.]

A magnificent assemblage of buildings at Rome, near the church of St. Peter, including the pope's palace, a museum, a library, a famous chapel, etc.

The word is often used to indicate the papal authority.

Collocations (1)
Thunders of the Vatican , the anathemas, or denunciations, of the pope.