1,909 employees of the Vatican City State.
[31]
The British Ambassador to the Holy See uses more precise language, saying
that the Holy See "is not the same as the Vatican City State. … (It) is the universal government of the Catholic Church and
operates from the Vatican City State."
[32]
This agrees exactly with the expression used by the website of the United States
Department of State, in giving information on both the Holy See and the Vatican City State: it too says that the Holy See
"operates from the Vatican City State".
[33]
The Holy See is a member of various International organizations and groups including the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA), International Telecommunication Union, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
(OSCE), the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR). The Holy See is also a permanent observer in various international organizations, including the
United Nations General Assembly, the Council of Europe, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The Holy See participates as an observer to African Union, Arab League, Council of Europe, Organization of American
States, International Organization for Migration, and in the United Nations and its agencies FAO, ILO, UNCTAD, UNEP,
UNESCO, UN-HABITAT, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNWTO, WFP, WHO, WIPO. It participates as a guest in the Non-Aligned
Movement (NAM), and as a full member in IAEA, OPCW, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Although the Holy See is closely associated with the Vatican City, the independent territory over which the Holy See is
sovereign, the two entities are separate and distinct. After the Italian seizure of the Papal States in 1870, the Holy See had
no territorial sovereignty. 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 Russia, Prussia and Austria-
Hungary. 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. In the course of
the 59 years during which the Holy See held no territorial sovereignty, the number of states that had diplomatic relations
with it, which had been reduced to 16, actually increased to 29.
[34]
The State of the Vatican City was created by the Lateran Treaty in 1929 to "ensure the absolute and visible independence
of the Holy See" and "to guarantee to it an indisputable sovereignty in international affairs." Archbishop Jean-Louis
Tauran, the Holy See's former Secretary for Relations with States, said that the Vatican City is a "minuscule support-state
that guarantees the spiritual freedom of the Pope with the minimum territory".
[35]
The Holy See, not the Vatican City, maintains diplomatic relations with states.
[36]
Foreign embassies are accredited to the
Holy See, not to the Vatican City, and it is the Holy See that establishes treaties and concordats with other sovereign
entities. When necessary, the Holy See will enter a treaty on behalf of the Vatican City.
Under the terms of the Lateran Treaty, the Holy See has extraterritorial authority over various sites in Rome and two
Italian sites outside of Rome, including the Pontifical Palace at Castel Gandolfo. The same authority is extended under
international law over the Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See in a foreign country.
Relationship with the Vatican City and other territories
Military