Holy See

The Holy See is the pope’s ecclesiastical jurisdiction and the central governing authority of the Catholic Church. It is distinct from the State of Vatican City, which provides its territorial base.

Roman Curia: The institutions and offices that assist the pope in governing the Catholic Church. Its dicasteries and other offices carry out much of the Holy See’s central administration.
Vatican City: An independent city-state established in 1929 within Rome. It is a territorial state distinct from the Holy See, despite their close institutional connection.
Diplomatic recognition: A state’s formal acceptance of another state or government as an international counterpart. States maintain relations with the Holy See through diplomatic practice distinct from Vatican City’s statehood.
Italian unification: The nineteenth-century political process that unified most of the Italian peninsula as one kingdom. Its capture of Rome ended papal temporal rule and produced the Roman Question.
Papal primacy: The Catholic doctrine that the pope holds supreme authority over the universal Church. It is the ecclesiastical basis for the Holy See’s central authority.
Pope: The bishop of Rome and the supreme pastor of the Catholic Church. The pope heads the Holy See and exercises its central authority.
Lateran Treaty: The 1929 agreement between Italy and the Holy See that established Vatican City and settled the Roman Question. It created the state that guarantees the Holy See territorial independence.
Treaty: A binding agreement governed by international law and concluded by subjects with treaty-making capacity. The Holy See concludes international agreements, including agreements concerning the Catholic Church.
First Vatican Council: The 1869–1870 ecumenical council that defined papal primacy and papal infallibility under specified conditions. Its teaching clarified the pope’s ecclesiastical authority amid the loss of papal territory.
Canonization: The formal act by which the pope declares a deceased Catholic to be a saint. Canonizations show the Holy See exercising authority with consequences for Catholics worldwide.

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