The word "Vatican" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it when referring to the Vatican City, which is the independent city-state in Rome governed by the Catholic Church. For example, "The Pope gave a speech to a large crowd at the Vatican yesterday."
Given Vatican history, he has reason enough to be wary – and both Catholics and non-Catholics have reason to hope he sees off his forces of darkness.
However, he was more fervently in favour of Vatican reforms than his superiors, and was encouraged to find another calling.
What makes the verbal sortie on the Vatican so groundbreaking however is that it is a Fine Gael taoiseach, whose political base lies in the conservative west of Ireland, who has led from the front.
A couple of months back the pope told a visiting Latin American social movement leader he would eat only in the Vatican canteen.
The senior Catholic cleric and former Vatican diplomat warned that the church should "not move into denial of the realities".
Asked whether Francis's apparent desire to go on last-minute outings might cause a headache for Vatican security, Father Thomas Rosica, the Vatican spokesman's English-speaking assistant, said: "It's the pope who is in charge and he will do what he wants to do".
It will be several days, however, before he can move in; the Vatican said there was still some repair work that needed to be done.
"If he brings that same desire for a simple lifestyle to the papal court, I think they are all going to be in shock," the Rev Thomas Reese, author of an authoritative book on the Vatican, told the Associated Press.
One of the first things he did on Wednesday evening, the Vatican said, was to telephone the emeritus pope Benedict XVI, ensconced in the papal villas at Castel Gandolfo since 28 February.
John Thavis, author of The Vatican Diaries, wrote on his blog: "One of the first things a new pope hears is: 'Holy Father, it's always done this way.' In his first 24 hours in office, Pope Francis has already given indications that he may not be intimidated by those words, as he creates his own style of being pope".
The Vatican also hosted delegations from the two countries at what were said to have been the talks at which the breakthrough was made.
