Vatican City, located in the northwest corner of Rome, the capital of Italy, is an inland city-state enclave that is also the world's smallest country in both area and population, covering only 0.44 square kilometers.
Because it is surrounded on all sides by Italy, it is known as the "country within a country." It is the seat of the Holy Court and the faith center for one-sixth of the world's population.
As usual, streams of believers and tourists from around the globe continuously converge upon the Vatican, ascend the Sacred Mountain, worship, and pray day after day, year after year.
This grand scene has persisted for over a thousand years.
Today, however, the Vatican welcomed a few strange visitors. They had black hair, black eyes, and yellow skin, standing out starkly from the surrounding tourists and believers, yet none of them noticed these newcomers.
