"Vatican City"; was Re: "The" Philippines

[Mark A. Mandel]

Barbara Need <nee1 at MIDWAY.UCHICAGO.EDU> writes:
>>>

As a follow-up to this discussion, I just heard "in Vatican City" on
CNN's coverage of the events there, rather than "in the Vatican
City", which is what I would expect.

<<<

How about "the New York City"?

The Vatican is a palace and the seat of government of a sovereign state, as
the White House is... a palatial residence for a head of government and the
seat of the Executive Branch of that government. "Vatican City", without
"the", is the name of the sovereign state of which the Pope is absolute
monarch, whose boundaries as far as I remember coincide with those of the
city as the boundaries of the District of Columbia coincide with those of
the city of Washington.

-- Mark A. Mandel
[This text prepared with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.]