Andorra has issued small-denomination gold pieces under papal themes since the late 1980s, trading on its historic role as a co-principality with the Bishop of Urgell serving as one of two co-princes — giving ecclesiastical coinage a constitutional legitimacy here found nowhere else in Europe. John Paul II had died in 2005, so this 2011 issue preceded his beatification by weeks, likely timed deliberately to that April ceremony.
Andorra has issued small-denomination gold pieces under papal themes since the late 1980s, trading on its historic role as a co-principality with the Bishop of Urgell serving as one of two co-princes — giving ecclesiastical coinage a constitutional legitimacy here found nowhere else in Europe. John Paul II had died in 2005, so this 2011 issue preceded his beatification by weeks, likely timed deliberately to that April ceremony.