The Holy See has long been recognised as a subject of international law and as an active participant in international relations. It is distinct from the city-state of the Vatican City, over which the Holy See has "full ownership, exclusive dominion, and sovereign authority, governance and jurisdiction".Article 3 of the Lateran Treaty, which founded the state
The diplomatic activities of the Holy See are directed by the Secretariat of State (headed by the Cardinal Secretary of State), through the Section for Relations with States.
While not being a member of the United Nations in its own right, the Holy See recognizes all UN member states except the People's Republic of China. In addition, the Holy See recognizes the State of Palestine and the Republic of China (Taiwan).
The term "Vatican Diplomatic Corps", by contrast with the diplomatic service of the Holy See, properly refers to all those diplomats accredited to the Holy See, not those who represent its interests to other nations and international bodies. Since 1961, Vatican diplomats also enjoy diplomatic immunity.
History
Since medieval times the episcopal see of Rome has been recognized as a sovereign entity. Earlier, there were papal representatives (apocrisiarii) to the Emperors of Constantinople, beginning in 453, but they were not thought of as ambassadors. In the eleventh century the sending of papal representatives to princes, on a temporary or permanent mission, became frequent.Hyginus Eugene Cardinale, (1976), The Holy See and the International Order, Colin Smythe, (Gerrards Cross), . In the fifteenth century it became customary for states to accredit permanent resident ambassadors to the Pope in Rome. The first permanent papal nunciature was established in 1500 in Venice. Their number grew in the course of the sixteenth century to thirteen, while internuncios (representatives of second rank) were sent to less-powerful states. After enjoying a brilliant period in the first half of the seventeenth century, papal diplomacy declined after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, being assailed especially by royalists and Gallicans, and the number of functioning nuncios was reduced to two in the time of Napoleon, although in the same period, in 1805, Prussia became the first Protestant state to send an ambassador to Rome. There was a revival after the Congress of Vienna in 1815, which, while laying down that, in general, the order of precedence between ambassadors would be determined by the date of their arrival, allowed special precedence to be given to the nuncio, by which he would always be the dean of the diplomatic corps.Boczek, Boleslaw Adam (2005). International Law: A Dictionary. p. 47. Scarecrow Press (Lanham, Maryland). , .
In spite of the extinction of the Papal States in 1870, and the consequent loss of territorial sovereignty, and in spite of some uncertainty among jurists as to whether it could continue to act as an independent personality in international matters, the Holy See continued in fact to exercise the right to send and receive diplomatic representatives, maintaining relations with states that included the major powers of Russia, Prussia, and Austria-Hungary. Countries continued to receive nuncios as diplomatic representatives of full rank, and where, in accordance with the decision of the 1815 Congress of Vienna, the Nuncio was not only a member of the Diplomatic Corps but its dean, this arrangement continued to be accepted by the other ambassadors.
The Holy See's loss of the Papal States to Italy in the 1870s was a factor in the Holy See's orientation towards soft power. The Holy See developed its relations with an increasing number of states. Particularly during the Papacy of Leo XIII, the Holy See sought to regain international standing by positioning itself as an arbiter of international disputes. Leo XIII prioritized common interests between the Holy See and the European colonial powers, tacitly supporting ecclesiastical colonization of Church missions along national lines.
With the First World War and its aftermath the number of states with diplomatic relations with the Holy See increased. For the first time since relations were broken between the Pope and Queen Elizabeth I of England, a British diplomatic mission to the Holy See was opened in 1914. The result was that, instead of diminishing, the number of diplomats accredited to the Holy See grew from sixteen in 1870 to twenty-seven in 1929, even before it again acquired territorial sovereignty with the founding of the State of Vatican City.Philippe Levillain, John W. O'Malley, The Papacy: Gaius-Proxies (Routledge, 2002 , ), p. 718
In the same period, the Holy See concluded a total of twenty-nine concordats and other agreements with states, including Austro-Hungary in 1881, Russia in 1882 and 1907, France in 1886 and 1923. Two of these concordats were registered at the League of Nations at the request of the countries involved.J.K.T. Chao, The Evolution of Vatican Diplomacy p. 27
While bereft of territorial sovereignty, the Holy See also accepted requests to act as arbitrator between countries, including a dispute between Germany and Spain over the Caroline Islands. Between 1870 and 1929, the Holy See was asked to mediate 13 international disputes.
The Lateran Treaty of 1929 and the founding of the Vatican City State was not followed by any great immediate increase in the number of states with which the Holy See had official relations. This came later, especially after the Second World War.
Since World War II, the Holy See's foreign relations are generally associated with the concept of soft power and generally seek to promote peace and humanitarian programs. The Holy See's foreign relations are less focused on traditional state interests like state security and the like.
The Vienna Convention of 18 April 1961 also established diplomatic immunity for the Vatican's foreign diplomats. Such immunity can only be revoked by the Holy See.
After the Cuban missile crisis demonstrated the risk of nuclear war, The Holy See became convinced that it had been too reluctant to engage with the communist countries. Through its foreign relations approach of Ostpolitik, the Vatican downplayed the role of ideological conflicts in international relations and reduced its anti-communist rhetoric. The Vatican also sought to use this approach to make the sacraments and church public life more available in the communist countries.
Diplomatic relations List of 183 countries which the Holy See maintains diplomatic relations with: #CountryDate1234s56789101112131415161718192021— (suspended)22232425262728293031—32333435—36373839404142434445 464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778798081828384858687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106107108109110111112113114115116117118119120121122123124125126127128129130131132133134135136137138139140141142143144145146147148149150151152153154155156157158159160161162163164165166—167168169170171172173174175176177—178179180
Bilateral relations The Holy See, as a non-state sovereign entity and full subject of international law, started establishing diplomatic relations with sovereign states in the 15th century. It had the territory of the States of the Church under its direct sovereign rule since centuries before that time. Currently it has the territory of the State of the Vatican City under its direct sovereign rule. In the period of 1870–1929 between the annexation of Rome by the Kingdom of Italy and the ratification of the Lateran Treaty establishing the current Vatican City State, the Holy See was devoid of territory. In this period some states suspended their diplomatic relations, but others retained them (or established such relations for the first time or reestablished them after a break), so that the number of states that did have diplomatic relations with the Holy See almost doubled (from 16 to 27) in the period between 1870 and 1929.
The Holy See currently has diplomatic relations with 184 sovereign states. These include 181 United Nations member states, the UN observer State of Palestine, the partially internationally recognized Republic of China (Taiwan), and the Cook Islands (a non-UN state in free association with New Zealand). In addition, it maintains relations with the sovereign entity Order of Malta and the supranational union European Union.https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2019/01/07/190107a.html=english|archivedate=January 2019 The Holy See presently lacks diplomatic relations with 12 UN member states.
By agreement with the government of Vietnam, it has a non-resident papal representative to that country. It has official formal contacts, without establishing diplomatic relations, with: Afghanistan, Brunei, Somalia and Saudi Arabia.
The Holy See additionally maintains some apostolic delegates to local Catholic Church communities which are not accredited to the governments of the respective states and work only in an unofficial, non-diplomatic capacity. The regions and states where such non-diplomatic delegates operate are: Brunei, Comoros, Laos, Maldives, Somalia, Vietnam, Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories (Palestine), Pacific Ocean (Tuvalu, dependent territoriesAmerican Samoa, French Polynesia, Guam, New Caledonia, Niue (dependent but self-governing), Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Pitcairn Islands, Tokelau, U.S. Minor Outlying Islands, Wallis and Futuna), Arabian Peninsula (foreigners in Saudi Arabia), Antilles (dependent territoriesThe dependent territories/constituent countries/overseas departments Anguilla, Aruba, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Turks and Caicos Islands, and U.S. Virgin Islands.), apostolic delegate to KosovoNote On Appointment Of Apostolic Delegate To Kosovo:"being completely distinct from considerations regarding juridical and territorial situations or any other question inherent to the diplomatic activity of the Holy See." (Republic of Kosovo) and the apostolic prefecture of Western Sahara (Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic).
The Holy See has no relations of any kind with the following states: Kingdom of Bhutan (see Catholic Church in Bhutan) Republic of the Maldives (see Catholic Church in the Maldives) People's Republic of China (see Catholic Church in China) Democratic People's Republic of Korea (see Catholic Church in North Korea)
91 embassies to the Holy See are based in Rome.
The Holy See is the only European subject of international law to have diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan), although there have been reports of informal talks between the Holy See and the government of the People's Republic of China on establishing diplomatic relations, restoring the situation that existed when the papal representative, Antonio Riberi, was part of the diplomatic corps that accepted the Communist government military victory instead of withdrawing with the Nationalist authorities to Taiwan. He was later expelled, after which the Holy See sent its representative to Taipei instead.
During the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI relations were established with Montenegro (2006), the United Arab Emirates (2007), Botswana (2008), Russia (2009), Malaysia (2011), and South Sudan (2013), and during the pontificate of Pope Francis, diplomatic relations were established with the State of Palestine (2015), Mauritania (2016), Myanmar (2017), and Oman (2023). "Relations of a special nature" had previously been in place with Russia.
Africa Country Formal relations begun or resumedNotesSee Algeria–Holy See relations. During the Algerian War of 1954–1962 the Holy See did not take sides nor, in view of its pledge not to take part in temporal rivalries unless there was a mutual appeal to it,url=Lateran Treaty, article 24 was there Vatican mediation between the French government and the Algerian rebels who requested it.