Q 01/05

St. Peter's Basilica stands inside which independent microstate?

A) Vatican City

B) San Marino

C) Monaco

D) Liechtenstein

Answer · why

A) Vatican City

Vatican City has been a sovereign state only since 1929; for almost sixty years before that, after Italy seized Rome, the popes refused to set foot ou...

Q 02/05

The original fourth-century St. Peter's Basilica was built by which Roman emperor?

A) Justinian the Great

B) Valentinian the Great

C) Theodosius the Great

D) Constantine the Great

Answer · why

D) Constantine the Great

Constantine the Great had the church raised directly over the small shrine that Rome's Christians venerated as Peter's grave, and it stood for nearly ...

Q 03/05

Which corps, founded in 1506 as the first stone of the new St. Peter's was laid, still guards the pope?

A) The Swiss Guard

B) The Noble Guard

C) The Corsican Guard

D) The Palatine Guard

Answer · why

A) The Swiss Guard

The Swiss Guard swears in its recruits every 6 May, the date in 1527 when 147 of its men died holding off an imperial army so that Pope Clement VII co...

Q 04/05

Which country built a basilica modelled on St. Peter's that Guinness World Records lists as the world's largest church?

A) Brazil

B) Poland

C) Ivory Coast

D) The Philippines

Answer · why

C) Ivory Coast

Ivory Coast finished the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace at Yamoussoukro in 1989; it covers more ground than St. Peter's, yet it holds far fewer worship...

Q 05/05

Which church, rather than St. Peter's, is Rome's cathedral and the Pope's official seat?

A) The Archbasilica of St. John Lateran

B) St. Paul Outside the Walls

C) Sant'Andrea della Valle

D) The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore

Answer · why

A) The Archbasilica of St. John Lateran

The Archbasilica of St. John Lateran holds the pope's throne as bishop of Rome, and the popes lived in the palace beside it for about a thousand years...