Vatican begins circulating euros, eight years on

A 50-cent euro coin bearing the image of Pope Benedict XVI has begun circulating in Vatican City for the first time since the Holy See adopted the currency in 2002, a news report said yesterday.

For eight years the Vatican City euros served only as popular collectors' items, initially featuring the face of Pope Benedict's predecessor John Paul II, who died in 2005.

The current collectors' set, with a face value of €3.88, sells for €30.

Under an agreement reached with the European Union last year, however, the Vatican must circulate at least 51 per cent of its currency at face value, and the Holy See last week began using its 50-cent coins to satisfy the requirement.

The agreement also more than doubled the amount of euros the world's smallest state can mint, the religious news agency i.Media reported.

But the coins are still hard to come by.

They can be found only inside Vatican walls, in businesses patronised by residents and workers including a supermarket and a petrol station, where employees cannot give out more than two coins at a time, i.Media said.

Euro coins have a common reverse side portraying a map of Europe, but each country in the 16-member eurozone has its own design on the obverse.

Two other microstates besides Vatican City - Monaco and San Marino - have the right to mint coins with their own designs.

Vatican City, an enclave of Rome, covers 0.44 square kilometres.