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The Holy See, also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and the Vatican City State. It encompasses the office of the pope as the bishop of the Apostolic episcopal see of Rome and serves as the spiritual and administrative authority of the worldwide Catholic Church and the city-state. Under international law, the Holy See holds the status of a sovereign juridical entity.
Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State, is a landlocked sovereign country, city-state, microstate, and enclave surrounded by, and historically a part of, Rome, Italy. It became independent from Italy in 1929 with the Lateran Treaty, and is a distinct territory under "full ownership, exclusive dominion, and sovereign authority and jurisdiction" of the Holy See, which is itself a sovereign entity under international law, maintaining the city-state's temporal power, governance, diplomatic, and spiritual independence. The Vatican is also a metonym for the pope, the city-state's and worldwide Catholic Church government Holy See, and Roman Curia. The country has the world's smallest land area and the smallest population, with 764 citizens as of 2023.
The politics of Vatican City take place in a framework of a theocratic absolute elective monarchy, in which the Pope, religiously speaking, the leader of the Catholic Church and Bishop of Rome, exercises ex officio supreme legislative, executive, and judicial power over the Vatican City as it is being governed by the Holy See, a rare case of non-hereditary monarchy.
The Secretary of State of His Holiness, known as the Cardinal Secretary of State, presides over the Holy See's Secretariat of State, which is the oldest and most important dicastery of the Roman Curia. The Secretariat of State performs all the political and diplomatic functions of the Holy See and the Vatican City State. The secretary of state is sometimes described as the prime minister of the Holy See, even though the nominal head of government of Vatican City is the President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State.
Giovanni Lajolo is an Italian cardinal and former president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and president of the Governatorate of Vatican City State.
The Secretariat of State is the oldest dicastery in the Roman Curia, the central papal governing bureaucracy of the Catholic Church. It is headed by the Cardinal Secretary of State and performs all the political and diplomatic functions of the Holy See. The Secretariat is divided into three sections: the Section for General Affairs, the Section for Relations with States, and, since 2017, the Section for Diplomatic Staff.
Jean-Marie Villot was a French prelate and Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Lyon from 1965 to 1967, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy from 1967 to 1969, Vatican Secretary of State from 1969 to 1979, and Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church from 1970 to 1979. He was made a cardinal in 1965.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and introduction to Vatican City:
Pietro ParolinOMRI is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. A cardinal since February 2014, he has served as the Vatican's Secretary of State since October 2013 and a member of the Council of Cardinal Advisers since July 2014. Before that, he worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See for thirty years, where his assignments included terms in Nigeria, Mexico and Venezuela, as well as more than six years as Undersecretary of State for Relations with States.
Giuseppe Bertello is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church, a cardinal since 2012, who was President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and President of the Governorate of Vatican City State from October 2011 to October 2021. He worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See from 1971 to 2011; became an archbishop in 1987; held appointments as Nuncio to several countries, including Rwanda, Mexico, and Italy; and was the Holy See's representative to a number of international organizations.
Fortunato Baldelli was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who was appointed a cardinal in 2010 after a career in the diplomatic service of the Holy See from 1966 to 2009 that included ten years as Apostolic Nuncio to France. He was also the Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary from 2009 to 2012.
Giovanni Angelo Becciu is an Italian Catholic prelate who served as prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints from 2018 until his resignation under duress in 2020. Pope Francis made him a cardinal in 2018. On 24 September 2020, he resigned the rights associated with the cardinalate.
Alfred Xuereb is a Maltese prelate of the Catholic Church who works in the diplomatic service of the Holy See. He previously worked in the Roman Curia and was a private secretary to Pope Benedict XVI from 2007 to 2013 and to Pope Francis from 2013 to 2014.
The Secretariat for the Economy is a dicastery of the Roman Curia with authority over all economic activities of the Holy See and the Vatican City State.
The Dicastery for Communication is a division (dicastery) of the Roman Curia with authority over all communication offices of the Holy See and the Vatican City State. Its various offices can be accessed through its website. These are the Pope's website and other offices such as Vatican News on internet, the Holy See Press Office, L'Osservatore Romano, Photograph Service, Vatican Radio, Vatican Press, and the Vatican Publishing House. The Pontifical Council for Social Communications has been subsumed into this new Dicastery.
Joseph Murphy has served as under-secretary of the Section for Diplomatic Staff since September 2023. Previously he was Head of Protocol at the Holy See's Secretariat of State.
Giovanni d’Aniello is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who works in the diplomatic service of the Holy See. An archbishop since 2001, he was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to the Russian Federation on 1 June 2020. He has been apostolic nuncio or apostolic delegate to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma and Laos, and Brazil.
Cristiane Murray is a Brazilian radio journalist who serves as the Vice Director of the Holy See Press Office. She worked for Vatican Radio, within the Dicastery for Communication, providing commentary on papal events and international trips as well as managing and producing content in Portuguese for Vatican News' social media platforms. She was appointed by Pope Francis as Vice Director of the Holy See Press Office in 2019, becoming the second woman, after Paloma García Ovejero, and the first Latin American woman to serve in this capacity. The appointment has made her one of the most prominent women in Vatican leadership.
Alessandra Smerilli, F.M.A. is an Italian economist, academic, and Catholic religious sister. She has a post-PhD degree in political economy and statistics, obtained from the Pontifical Faculty of Educational Sciences Auxilium.
Events in the year 2020 in Vatican City.
References
- ↑ "Vatican appoints first woman to senior role in Church". BBC News. 15 January 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
- ↑ "In Segreteria di Stato un sottosegretario donna: Francesca Di Giovanni". Vatican News (in Italian). 15 January 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
- ↑ "Resignation and Appointments, 15.01.2020" (Press release). Holy See Press Office. 15 January 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
- ↑ "Pope names 1st Woman Manager in Vatican Secretariat of State". New York Times. Associated Press. 15 January 2020. Archived from the original on January 15, 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
- ↑ Vecchi, Gian Guido (15 January 2020). "Vaticano, Francesca Di Giovanni è il primo sottosegretario donna nella Segreteria di Stato". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Retrieved 16 January 2020.
- ↑ O'Connell, Gerard (15 January 2020). "Pope Francis appoints a woman for the first time to senior role in the Vatican's Secretariat of State". America . Retrieved 16 January 2020.
- ↑ "Resignations and Appointments, 31.10.2019" (Press release). Holy See Press Office. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
