Vatican euro coins are issued by the

Philatelic and Numismatic Office of the Vatican City State The Philatelic and Numismatic Office of the Vatican City State ( it, Ufficio Filatelico e Numismatico), managed by Poste Vaticane, is responsible for issuing Vatican postal stamps and Vatican coins. The office was created on 11 February 1929 ...

and minted by

Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato The Italian Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato (IPZS) (State Mint and Polygraphic Institute), founded in 1928, is situated at the via Salaria 691 in Rome. As well as producing coins, passports, and postage stamps for Italy, it serves the mi ...

(IPZS), in Rome, Italy. The euro is the official currency of the

Vatican City Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—' * german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ') * pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—' * pt, Cidade do Vati ...

, although Vatican City is not a member of the

Eurozone The euro area, commonly called eurozone (EZ), is a currency union of 19 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (€) as their primary currency and sole legal tender, and have thus fully implemented EMU pol ...

or the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

Vatican euro design

For images of the common side and a detailed description of the coins, see euro coins.

First series (2002–2005)

The initial series of Vatican euro coins featured an effigy of

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

. They were issued only in collector sets and bore an extreme markup with the 2002 collector set costing well over a thousand euro.

Second series (2005)

Following the death of

in April 2005,

issued special coins during the period of

Sede vacante ''Sede vacante'' ( in Latin.) is a term for the state of a diocese while without a bishop. In the canon law of the Catholic Church, the term is used to refer to the vacancy of the bishop's or Pope's authority upon his death or resignation. Hi ...

depicting the emblem of the

Apostolic Chamber The Apostolic Camera ( la, Camera Apostolica), formerly known as the was an office in the Roman Curia. It was the central board of finance in the papal administrative system and at one time was of great importance in the government of the Sta ...

(i.e. two crossed keys beneath an

umbraculum The umbraculum ( it, ombrellone, "big umbrella", in basilicas also conopaeum) is a historic piece of the papal regalia and insignia, once used on a daily basis to provide shade for the pope (Galbreath, 27). Also known as the pavilion, in modern ...

, or umbrella) and the coat of arms of the

Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church The Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church is an office of the papal household that administers the property and revenues of the Holy See. Formerly, his responsibilities included the fiscal administration of the Patrimony of Saint Peter. As regu ...

, at the time Cardinal Eduardo Martínez Somalo.The description of the new national side can be found in th
Official Journal of the European Union C308/17 (6/12/05)
(PDF)

Third series (2006–2013)

When the new pope was elected, the third series of Vatican euro coins were issued on 27 April 2006 and feature the effigy of

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereig ...

. The coins carry an inscription "Città del Vaticano" and the twelve stars of Europe. The details of this design are published in the

Official Journal of the European Union An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their su ...

Fourth series (2014–2016)

A series of Vatican euro coins featuring effigies of

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013 ...

was released in March 2014."Vatican Issues Euro Coins Featuring Pope Francis"
KMBZ, 4 March 2014. (accessed 10 March 2014) Three different images of Francis were used.PONTIFICATE OF POPE FRANCIS - EURO COINS PROOF VERSION - YEAR 2014
Vatican City State. (accessed 10 March 2014)

Fifth series (2017–present)

As a result of Pope Francis no longer permitting that his effigies be used on coins, starting March 2017, the eight denominations of Vatican euro coins no longer bore the Pope's image and now feature his papal coat of arms.

Circulating Mintage quantities

Future changes to national sides

The Commission of the European Communities issued a recommendation on 19 December 2008, a common guideline for the national sides and the issuance of euro coins intended for circulation. One section of this recommendation stipulates that: :Article 5. Changes to the national sides of regular euro coins intended for circulation: ::"''... the designs used for the national sides of the euro coins intended for circulation denominated in euro or in cent should not be modified, except in cases where the Head of State referred to on a coin changes ... A temporary vacancy or the provisional occupation of the function of Head of State should not give the right to change the national sides of the regular euro coins intended for circulation.''" This change means that there will be no more "Sede Vacante" series of the ''regular'' Vatican euro coins, although the issue of ''commemorative'' "Sede Vacante" series (usually gold and silver coins), having legal tender in Vatican City only, remains possible. Circulating €2 commemorative Sede Vacante coins would also be possible, if the Sede Vacante period occurs in a year in which Vatican City has not already released two €2 commemorative coins of another subject. Such a coin was indeed minted for the Sede Vacante of 2013.

€2 commemorative coins

*75th anniversary of the Foundation of the Vatican City State (2004) * 20th World Youth Day in Cologne (2005) *500th anniversary of the Swiss Pontifical Guard (2006) *80th anniversary of the birth of Benedict XVI (2007) *Year of the Apostile (2008) *

International Year of Astronomy The International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) was a year-long celebration of astronomy that took place in 2009 to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the first recorded astronomical observations with a telescope by Galileo Galilei and the pu ...

(2009) *Year of the Priests (2010) * XXVI World Youth Day in Madrid (2011) *7th World Meeting of the Families (2012) * XXVIII World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro (2013) *

(2013) *25 years since the fall of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the gover ...

(2014) *8th Meeting of the Families (2015) * Jubilee of Mercy (2016) * Bicentenary of the Vatican Gendarmerie (2016) * Centenary of the Fatima Apparitions (2017) * 1950th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Saint Peter & Saint Paul (2017) In addition, in 2014 the Vatican issued commemorative €20 and €50 coins honoring

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Roman Catholic Church, Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 28 Oc ...

and Pope John Paul II respectively. Both popes were

canonized Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of s ...

in April 2014..

Notes

References

External links

Vatican Philatelic and Numismatic Office
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vatican Euro Coins Euro coins by issuing country Euro coins