St. Peter's Square in the context of "Scala Regia (Vatican)"

In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curved. The space enclosed may be covered or open. In St. Peter's Square in Rome, Bernini's great colonnade encloses a vast open elliptical space.

When in front of a building, screening the door (Latin porta), it is called a portico. When enclosing an open court, a peristyle. A portico may be more than one rank of columns deep, as at the Pantheon in Rome or the stoae of Ancient Greece.

On 13 May 1981, in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, Pope John Paul II was shot and wounded by Mehmet Ali Ağca while he was entering the square. The Pope was struck twice and suffered severe blood loss. Ağca was apprehended immediately and later sentenced to life in prison by an Italian court. The Pope forgave Ağca for the assassination attempt. He was pardoned by Italian president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi at the Pope's request and was deported to Turkey in June 2000.

Mary of the Divine Heart (Münster, 8 September 1863 – Porto, 8 June 1899), born Maria Droste zu Vischering, was a German noblewoman and religious sister of the Catholic Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd. She is best known for having influenced Pope Leo XIII to consecrate the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Pope Leo XIII called the solemn consecration "the greatest act of my pontificate".

She was beatified by Pope Paul VI in St. Peter's Square on 1 November 1975.

In urban design, a terminating vista is a building or an object such as a monument that stands within view in the sightline or at the end or the middle of a road.

The Vatican Obelisk is an Egyptian obelisk, one of the thirteen ancient obelisks of Rome. This obelisk is located in St. Peter's Square, in Vatican City. It is the only ancient obelisk in Rome that has never fallen.

Made of red granite, it has a height of 25.3 meters and, together with the cross and the base (composed of four bronze lions, by Prospero Antichi), it reaches almost 40 meters.

On 31 December 2022, at 09:34 CET (UTC+1), former Pope Benedict XVI died at the age of 95 at Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in Vatican City. He had been pope emeritus since his resignation as the leader of the Catholic Church in 2013 due to his declining health. His death and subsequent funeral from 2022 to 2023 ended a nine-year period during which an incumbent pope and a retired pope lived within Vatican City, and ten-year Catholic Church involvement with both the then-current pope and pope-emeritus.

Benedict XVI's body lay in state in St. Peter's Basilica from 2 to 4 January 2023, during which around 195,000 mourners paid their respects. His funeral took place in St. Peter's Square on 5 January and was attended by around 50,000 people, presided over by Pope Francis, whose role as an incumbent pope overseeing the funeral of his predecessor was unprecedented given the order of papal succession.