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Vatican City (Holy See) - Personal Flag and Arms of John-Paul II

Last modified: 2005-04-29 by dov gutterman
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by António Martins, 8 November 2001



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The Flag

I just saw in the news a short coverage of an Vatican meeting where the Pope came by car that was addorned with two flags that were sometimes reported as Pope's personal flag. There were of the same design as the state flag of Vatican, but the Vatican Coat of Arms being replaced with the papal personal Coat of Arms (blue, golden cross and letter M) of Pope John Paul II.
Even if these flags are somtimes (rather often?) seen in various occasions, I think that this is first time I have seen them used by the Pope himself or the Vatican government - otherwise these flags were always seen (more or less) as ornamentation hoisted by  Catholics in various occasions. The two flags on the car were rather in the triangualr pennant form, with the white fields therefore being considerably larger then the yellow field, so that it could contain the CoA confortably.
Željko Heimer, 21 May 2001

The square, yellow-white "flag" with John Paul's arms which appears on the is more difficult for me to address. I left Rome in 1994 and have never seen it. I assume that you have seen it used as a "car flag," which is not out of the question. Again, I doubt there are legal directives in its regard. I am confident, however, that it would never be displayed from any Vatican buildings as a full-size flag in any official capacity.
Rev. William