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The legal status of the Holy See, the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, both in state practice and according to the writing of modern legal scholars, is that of a full subject of public international law, with rights and duties analogous to those of states.
Although the Holy See, as distinct from the Vatican City State, does not fulfill the long-established criteria in international law of statehood; i.e. having a permanent population, a defined territory, a stable government and the capacity to enter into relations with other states; [1] its possession of full legal personality in international law is evidenced by its diplomatic relations with 180 states, that it is a member-state in various intergovernmental international organizations, and that it is: "respected by the international community of sovereign States and treated as a subject of international law having the capacity to engage in diplomatic relations and to enter into binding agreements with one, several, or many states under international law that are largely geared to establish and preserving peace in the world." [2] As Graham notes:
The fact that the Holy See is a non-territorial institution is no longer regarded as a reason for denying it international personality. The papacy can act in its own name in the international community. It can enter into legally binding conventions known as concordats. In the world of diplomacy the Pope enjoys the rights of active and passive legation. (...) Furthermore, this personality of the Holy See is distinct from the personality of the State of Vatican City. One is a non-territorial institution and the other a state. The papacy as a religious organ is a subject of international law and capable of international rights and duties. [3]
This peculiar character of the Holy See in international law, as a non-territorial entity with a legal personality akin to that of states, has led Prof. Ian Brownlie to define it as a "sui generis entity". [4] Prof. Maurice Mendelson (then lecturer) argued that "[i]n two respects it may be doubted whether the territorial entity, the Vatican City, meets the traditional criteria of statehood" and that "[t]he special status of the Vatican City is probably best regarded as a means of ensuring that the Pope can freely exercise his spiritual functions, and in this respect is loosely analogous to that of the headquarters of international organisations." [5] [ clarification needed ]
Moreover, the Holy See itself, while claiming international legal personality, does not claim to be a State. Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, former Secretary for Relations with States of the Secretariat of State of the Holy See, has underlined the need to avoid assimilating the Holy See and its international action with that of a State, with their thirst for power. According to Tauran, the Holy See is unquestionably a sovereign subject of international law but of a predominantly religious nature. [6]
For some experts, the current legal personality of the Holy See is a remnant of its preeminent role in medieval politics. Thus Arangio-Ruiz noted that the Holy See has been an actor in the evolution of international law since before the creation of strong nation states, and that it has maintained international personality since. [7]
For others, the international personality of the Holy See arises solely from its recognition by other states. In this sense, Brownlie argues that the personality of the Holy See “as a religious organ apart from its territorial base in the Vatican City” arises from the "principle of effectiveness", that is, from the fact that other states voluntarily recognize the Holy See, acquiesce having bilateral relations with it, and in fact do so, in a situation where no rule of ius cogens is breached. For him, though, the international personality thus conferred is effective only towards those states prepared to enter into diplomatic relations with it. [8] Crawford similarly believes that the recognition of a number of states is important evidence to acknowledge the legal personality of the Holy See, so that, today, it cannot be denied. [9]
For a third group of authors, the international legal personality of the Holy See is based mostly, but not only, on its unique spiritual role. Araujo notes, for instance, that "it is generally understood that the Holy See’s international personality emerges from its religious, moral and spiritual authority and mission in the world as opposed to a claim over purely temporal matters. This is an incomplete understanding, however, of the grounds on which its claim as a subject of international law can be justified", since, in his view, the Holy See's claim to international personality can also be justified by the fact that it is recognized by other states as a full subject of international law. [10] The Lateran Treaty itself seems to support this view. In article 2, Italy recognized "the sovereignty of the Holy See in the international domain as an attribute inherent in its nature, in accordance with its tradition and with the requirements of its mission in the world."
For a further group, the legal personality of the Holy See in international law arises from the Lateran Treaty, which, in their view, conferred international standing to the central government of the Catholic Church. In this sense, Oppenheim argued that "the previously controversial international position of the Holy See was clarified as the result of the Treaty of 11 February 1929, between the Holy See and Italy - the so called Lateran Treaty. (...) The Lateran Treaty marks the resumption of the formal membership, interrupted in 1871, of the Holy See in the society of states." [11]
Oppenheim goes further and denies a separate legal personality for the Vatican City State. For him, the composite of the Holy See plus the Vatican City constitutes just one international person; see p. 328:
The strict view ought probably to be that the Lateran Treaty created a new international state of the Vatican City, with the incumbent of the Holy See as its Head; but the practice of states does not always sharply distinguishes between the two elements in that way. Nevertheless it is accepted that in one form or the other there exists a state possessing the formal requirements of statehood and constituting an international person recognized as such by other states.
Kunz sharply criticized this view. For him:
The Lateran Treaty had the object of liquidating once for all the 'Roman Question' and bringing about a reconciliation between the Holy See and Italy, but in no way created or changed the international position of the Holy See. (It is therefore not correct, as Oppenheim (...) states that "the hitherto controversial international position of the Holy See was clarified as a result of the Treaty.") The treaty concluded between the Holy See and Italy pre-supposes the international personality of the Holy See. [12]
A separate question is whether the Holy See was a subject of international law between 1870, when the Kingdom of Italy annexed the Papal States, and 1929, when the Lateran Treaties were signed. The United States, for instance, suspended diplomatic relations with the Holy See when it lost the Papal States. [13] Similarly, Oppenheim believed that the legal personality of the Papal States became extinct in 1870. For him, between 1870 and 1929, the "Holy See was not an international person," although "it had by custom and tacit consent of most states acquired a quasi-international position". [14] The United Nations International Law Commission noted, nonetheless, that:
It has always been a principle of international law that entities other than States might possess international personality and treaty-making capacity. An example is afforded by the Papacy particularly in the period immediately preceding the Lateran Treaty of 1929, when the Papacy exercised no territorial sovereignty. The Holy See was nevertheless regarded as possessing international treaty-making capacity. Even now, although there is a Vatican State (...) treaties are entered into not by reason of territorial sovereignty over the Vatican State, but on behalf of the Holy See, which exists separately from that State. [15]
Similarly, Kunz argued that:
Prior to 1870, there were two subjects of international law: the Papal State and the Holy See. (...) Of these two persons in international law the one, the Papal State, undoubtedly came to an end, under the rules of general international law, by the Italian conquest and subjugation in 1870. But the Holy See remained, as always, a subject of general international law also in the period between 1870 and 1929. That this is so, is fully proved by the practice of states. The Holy See continued to conclude concordats and continued, with the consent of a majority of states, to exercise the active and passive right of legation. The legal position of its diplomatic agents (...) remained based on general international law, not on the Italian Law of Guarantee, a municipal law. [16]
Since 1995, the non-governmental organization Catholics for Choice has advocated against the participation of the Holy See in multilateral forums. [17] It argues that the Holy See is a religious organization and not a state, and that, therefore, it should have neither a special status in international law nor the right to participate, in a position analogous to that of states, in the international conferences on social, cultural and economic matters. [18] No State has supported this initiative. On the contrary, the United Nations General Assembly confirmed and raised further the status of the Holy See as an observer within the UN, through its Resolution 58/314 of 16 July 2004. [19]
The Holy See, also called the See of Rome, Petrine See, Apostolic See, and Government of Vatican City, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome and sovereign of Vatican City. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome, which has ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the Catholic Church, and sovereignty and governance over the city-state known as Vatican City.
Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State, is a landlocked independent country, city-state, microstate, and enclave within Rome, Italy. It became independent from Italy in 1929 with the Lateran Treaty, and it is a distinct territory under "full ownership, exclusive dominion, and sovereign authority and jurisdiction" of the Holy See, itself a sovereign entity under international law, which maintains the city state's temporal power and governance, diplomatic, and spiritual independence. With an area of 49 hectares and as of 2023 a population of about 764, it is the smallest state in the world both by area and population. As governed by the Holy See, Vatican City State is an ecclesiastical or sacerdotal-monarchical state ruled by the Pope who is the bishop of Rome and head of the Catholic Church. The highest state functionaries are all Catholic clergy of various origins. After the Avignon Papacy (1309–1377) the popes have mainly resided at the Apostolic Palace within what is now Vatican City, although at times residing instead in the Quirinal Palace in Rome or elsewhere. The Vatican is also a metonym for the Holy See.
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 Lateran Treaty was one component of the Lateran Pacts of 1929, agreements between the Kingdom of Italy under King Victor Emmanuel III and the Holy See under Pope Pius XI to settle the long-standing Roman Question. The treaty and associated pacts were named after the Lateran Palace where they were signed on 11 February 1929, and the Italian parliament ratified them on 7 June 1929. The treaty recognized Vatican City as an independent state under the sovereignty of the Holy See. The Italian government also agreed to give the Roman Catholic Church financial compensation for the loss of the Papal States. In 1948, the Lateran Treaty was recognized in the Constitution of Italy as regulating the relations between the state and the Catholic Church. The treaty was significantly revised in 1984, ending the status of Catholicism as the sole state religion.
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, commonly known as the Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of a military, chivalric, and noble nature. Though it possesses no territory, the order is often considered a sovereign entity of international law.
A concordat is a convention between the Holy See and a sovereign state that defines the relationship between the Catholic Church and the state in matters that concern both, i.e. the recognition and privileges of the Catholic Church in a particular country and with secular matters that impact on church interests.
A prisoner in the Vatican or prisoner of the Vatican described the situation of the pope with respect to Italy during the period from the capture of Rome by the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy on 20 September 1870 until the Lateran Treaty of 11 February 1929. Part of the process of Italian unification, the city's capture ended the millennium-old temporal rule of the popes over central Italy and allowed Rome to be designated the capital of the new nation. Although the Italians did not occupy the territories of Vatican Hill delimited by the Leonine walls and offered the creation of a city-state in the area, the popes from Pius IX to Pius XI refused the proposal and described themselves as prisoners of the new Italian state.
The Roman question was a dispute regarding the temporal power of the popes as rulers of a civil territory in the context of the Italian Risorgimento. It ended with the Lateran Pacts between King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and Pope Pius XI in 1929.
Holy See–European Union relations are the relations between the European Union (EU) and the Holy See.
International law is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognised as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for states across a broad range of domains, including war and diplomacy, economic relations, and human rights. International law differs from state-based domestic legal systems in primarily, though not exclusively, applicable to states, rather than to individuals, and operates largely through consent, since there is no universally accepted authority to enforce it upon sovereign states. States may choose to not abide by international law, and even to breach a treaty but such violations, particularly of peremptory norms, can be met with disapproval by others and in some cases coercive action ranging from diplomatic and economic sanctions to war.
Holy See–Italy relations are the special relations between the Holy See, which is sovereign over the Vatican City, and the Italian Republic.
This is an index of Vatican City–related topics.
Holy See–United Kingdom relations are foreign relations between the Holy See and the United Kingdom.
The Holy See has long been recognised as a subject of international law and as an active participant in international relations. One observer has stated that its interaction with the world has, in the period since World War II, been at its highest level ever. It is distinct from the city-state of the Vatican City, over which the Holy See has "full ownership, exclusive dominion, and sovereign authority and jurisdiction".
Holy See–Israel relations are the diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the State of Israel, as well as a concordat defining the status and fiscal and property rights of the Catholic Church and related entities within Israel. Formal diplomatic relations between the two states were established after the adoption of the Fundamental Agreement by the two States on 30 December 1993. A Vatican Nunciature in Israel and an Israeli embassy in Rome were simultaneously opened on 19 January 1994. From the Vatican's point of view, the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two states is part of the Christian–Jewish reconciliation; and from the Israeli point of view, the normalization of diplomatic relations. Prior to the establishment of diplomatic relations, the interests of the Catholic Church in Israel were looked after by the Apostolic Delegate to Jerusalem and Palestine, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Custodian of the Holy Land, all of which continue to function.
The Fundamental Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Israel or "Fundamental Agreement" is a treaty or concordat between the Holy See and the State of Israel, signed on 30 December 1993. The Agreement deals with the property rights and tax exemptions of the Roman Catholic Church within Israeli territory. It did not resolve all issues, and the parties continue to meet in an attempt to resolve the issues outstanding.
The Holy See is not a member of the United Nations but was granted permanent observer state status on 6 April 1964. In that capacity, it has the right to attend all sessions of the United Nations General Assembly, the United Nations Security Council, and the United Nations Economic and Social Council to observe their work. Accordingly, the Holy See has established permanent observer missions in New York and in Geneva and has been able to influence the decisions and recommendations of the United Nations.
The Reverend Robert John Araujo, SJ, was the John Courtney Murray Professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Formerly, he was the Robert Bellarmine University Professor in American and Public International Law at Gonzaga University School of Law (1994–2005) and an Ordinary Professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome (2005–2008).
Georgia – Holy See relations are bilateral relations between Georgia and the Holy See. The diplomatic relations between the two were established on May 5, 1992. The Georgian Embassy to the Holy See is located in 25 Via Toscana, Rome. The Apostolic Nunciature is located in 40 Zghenti Street, Tbilisi.
The Law of Guarantees, sometimes also called the Law of Papal Guarantees, was the name given to the law passed by the senate and chamber of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy, 13 May, 1871, concerning the prerogatives of the Holy See, and the relations between state and church in the Kingdom of Italy. It guaranteed sovereign prerogatives to the pope, who had been deprived of the territory of the Papal States. The popes refused to accept the law, as it was enacted by a foreign government and could therefore be revoked at will, leaving the popes without a full claim to sovereign status. In response, the popes declared themselves prisoners of the Vatican. The ensuing Roman Question was not resolved until the Lateran Pacts of 1929.
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