Rome didn’t plan to hand over its power to a fisherman with a new name, but here we are.
This week, we’re tracing how a desperate moment on a lake turned into the most powerful half-a-neighborhood on Earth. From impromptu name changes to forged documents and drunk Swiss bodyguards, this episode unpacks how the Vatican became a country—with its own train, jail, and a king who can fire the government whenever he wants.

• Peter Gets Rebranded: Why Jesus changed Simon’s name on the spot, and how that one sentence sparked the entire Vatican origin story.
• The Circus of Nero: How Saint Peter’s upside-down crucifixion laid the literal groundwork for Christianity’s most famous church.
• Power by Papyrus: The suspicious “found” document that gave popes a kingdom and a new job title: king.
• Mussolini’s Mic Drop: What happened when Italy gave up and handed the Vatican full sovereignty—with some strings attached.
• Swiss Guard Secrets: The very real military that guards the Pope and what they’re doing at your local Roman dive bar by 9:45pm.

You’ll leave knowing exactly how the Vatican became the only country you can walk into without a passport and why it runs like a monarchy with holy Wi-Fi privileges.