Foreign relations of the Holy See

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

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.[1] 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".[2]

The diplomatic activities of the Holy See are directed by the

), through the Section for Relations with States.

Whilst not a member of the United Nations in its own right, the Holy See recognizes all UN member states, except for the People's Republic of China (as the Holy See only recognizes the Republic of China) and North Korea (as the Holy See only has relations with South Korea). The Holy See also recognizes the State of Palestine,[3][4] the only other non-UN member it recognizes besides Taiwan (ROC).

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.[5]

History

U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump meet with Pope Francis in 2017.

Since medieval times the episcopal see of Rome has been recognized as a

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.[6]: 70  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.[7]

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.[8] 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.[8]

With the

Elizabeth I of England, a British diplomatic mission to the Holy See was opened in 1914.[9] 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.[10]

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.[10] Two of these concordats were registered at the League of Nations at the request of the countries involved.[11]

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.[10]

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.

The Vienna Convention of April 18, 1961 also established diplomatic immunity for the Vatican's foreign diplomats.[5] Such immunity can only be revoked by the Holy See.[5]

Diplomatic relations

List of 184 countries which the Holy See maintains diplomatic relations with:

# Country Date[12]
1  Portugal 12 February 1481[13]
2   Switzerland 1553[14]
3  Spain 1500s
4  France 1600s
5  Brazil 1829
6  Belgium 17 July 1834[15]
7  Netherlands May 1829[16]
8  Colombia 26 November 1835
9  Paraguay 18 May 1853[17]
10  Monaco 21 June 1875[18]
11  Argentina 1877
12  Bolivia 1877
13  Chile 1877
14  Ecuador 1877
15  Peru 1877
16  Uruguay 1877
17  Dominican Republic 1881
18  Haiti 1881
19  Venezuela 1881
20  Luxembourg January 1891[19]
21  Costa Rica 1908
22  Honduras 1908
23  Nicaragua 1908
24  Poland 16 June 1919[20]
25  Czech Republic 24 October 1919[21]
26  Germany 30 June 1920 (
Federal Republic
)
27  Hungary 10 August 1920[22][23]
28  El Salvador 1922
29  Panama 21 September 1923[24]
30  San Marino April 1926
31  Romania 10 May 1927[25]
32  Liberia 15 December 1927
33  Italy 24 June 1929
34  Ireland 27 November 1929
 Sovereign Military Order of Malta February 1930
35  Cuba 2 September 1935
36  Guatemala 16 March 1936
37  Japan March 1942
38  Finland 31 July 1942[26]
39  Republic of China 23 October 1942
40  Austria 9 August 1946
41  Lebanon November 1946
42  Egypt 23 August 1947
43  India 12 June 1948
44  Indonesia 13 March 1950
45  Philippines 8 April 1951
46  Pakistan 6 October 1951
47  Syria 21 February 1953
48  Iran 2 May 1953
49  Ethiopia 20 March 1957
50  Turkey 25 January 1960
51  Senegal 17 November 1961
52  Burundi 11 February 1963
53  Republic of the Congo 16 February 1963
54  South Korea 11 December 1963
55  Rwanda 6 June 1964
56  Zambia 15 May 1965
57  Kenya 19 June 1965
58  Malta 15 December 1965
59  Malawi 5 February 1966
60  Iraq 26 August 1966
61  Cameroon 27 August 1966
62  Uganda 1 September 1966
63  Madagascar 24 December 1966
64  Lesotho 11 March 1967
65  Central African Republic 13 May 1967
66  Gabon 31 October 1967
67  Thailand 19 April 1968
68  Tanzania 28 April 1968
69  Kuwait 21 October 1968
70  Canada 16 October 1969
71  Mauritius 9 March 1970
72  Serbia 14 August 1970
73  Ivory Coast 26 October 1970
74  Benin 29 June 1971
75  Niger 20 July 1971
76  Algeria 6 March 1972
77  Tunisia 22 March 1972
78  Sudan 29 April 1972
79  Bangladesh 25 September 1972
80  Cyprus 31 January 1973
81  Australia 24 March 1973
82  Burkina Faso 14 June 1973
83  New Zealand 20 June 1973
84  Sri Lanka 6 September 1975
85  Ghana 20 November 1975
86  Nigeria 20 November 1975
87  Morocco 15 January 1976
88  Cape Verde 12 May 1976
89  Iceland 12 October 1976[27]
90  Democratic Republic of the Congo 31 January 1977
91  Papua New Guinea 7 March 1977
92  Gambia 7 June 1978
93  Trinidad and Tobago 23 July 1978
94  Fiji 12 September 1978
95  Grenada 17 February 1979
96  Barbados 19 April 1979
97  Greece 17 July 1979
98  Jamaica 20 July 1979
99  Bahamas 27 July 1979
100  Mali 29 October 1979
101  Zimbabwe 26 June 1980
102  Togo 21 April 1981
103  Singapore 24 June 1981
104  Dominica 1 September 1981
105  Equatorial Guinea 24 December 1981
106  United Kingdom 16 January 1982
107  Denmark 2 August 1982
108  Norway 2 August 1982
109  Sweden 2 August 1982
110  Belize 9 March 1983
111    Nepal 10 September 1983
112  United States 10 January 1984
113  Solomon Islands 9 May 1984
114  Seychelles 27 July 1984
115  Saint Lucia 1 September 1984
116  São Tomé and Príncipe 21 December 1984
117  Liechtenstein 28 August 1985
118  Guinea 21 June 1986
119  Guinea-Bissau 12 July 1986
120  Antigua and Barbuda 15 December 1986
121  Chad 28 November 1988
122  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 16 April 1990
123  Bulgaria 6 December 1990
124  Albania 7 September 1991
125  Lithuania 30 September 1991
126  Latvia 1 October 1991
127  Estonia 3 October 1991
128  Croatia 8 February 1992
129  Slovenia 8 February 1992
130  Ukraine 8 February 1992
131  Eswatini 11 March 1992
132  Mongolia 4 April 1992
133  Armenia 23 May 1992
134  Azerbaijan 23 May 1992
135  Georgia 23 May 1992
136  Moldova 23 May 1992
137  Nauru 1 June 1992
138  Bosnia and Herzegovina 18 August 1992
139  Kyrgyzstan 27 August 1992
140  Mexico 21 September 1992
141  Kazakhstan 17 October 1992
142  Uzbekistan 17 October 1992
143  Belarus 11 November 1992
144  Slovakia 1 January 1993
145  Marshall Islands 30 December 1993
146  Suriname 16 January 1994
147  Federated States of Micronesia 26 January 1994
148  Jordan 3 March 1994
149  South Africa 5 March 1994
150  Cambodia 25 March 1994
151  Samoa 10 June 1994
152  Israel 15 June 1994
153  Vanuatu 20 July 1994
154  Tonga 24 August 1994
155  North Macedonia 21 December 1994
156  Kiribati 10 April 1995
157  Andorra 16 June 1995
158  Eritrea 15 July 1995
159  Namibia 12 September 1995
160  Mozambique 14 December 1995
161  Turkmenistan 10 June 1996
162  Tajikistan 15 June 1996
163  Sierra Leone 30 July 1996
164  Libya 10 March 1997
165  Guyana 9 June 1997
166  Angola 8 July 1997
167  Yemen 13 October 1998
168  Palau 17 December 1998
169  Cook Islands 29 April 1999
170  Saint Kitts and Nevis 19 July 1999
171  Bahrain 12 January 2000
172  Djibouti 20 May 2000
173  East Timor 20 May 2002
174  Qatar 18 November 2002
175  Montenegro 16 December 2006
176  United Arab Emirates 30 May 2007[28]
177  Botswana 4 November 2008
178  Russia 9 December 2009
179  Malaysia 27 July 2011
180  South Sudan 22 February 2013
181  State of Palestine 13 May 2015[29]
182  Mauritania 9 December 2016[30]
183  Myanmar 4 May 2017
184  Oman 23 February 2023[28]

Bilateral relations