Coat of arms of the Vatican City. The Holy See has long been recognised as estonia diplomatic relations subject of international law and as an active participant in international relations. 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 medieval times the episcopal see of Rome has been recognized as a sovereign entity. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
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 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. By agreement with the government of Vietnam, it has a non-resident papal representative to that country. 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 Holy See maintains 183 permanent diplomatic missions abroad, of which 73 are non-residential, so that it has in all 106 concrete missions, some of which are accredited not only to the country in which they are situated, but also to one or more other countries or international organizations. After Algeria became independent, Algeria maintained diplomatic ties with the Holy See and allowed Roman Catholic priests to continue ministering to the remaining Catholics in Algeria.
The Holy See has a nunciature in Bangui. The Holy See has an apostolic nunciature in Kinshasa. The DRC maintains an embassy near Vatican City. The Holy See has an apostolic nunciature in Abidjan. Ivory Coast maintains an embassy in Rome for the Holy See.
The Holy See has a nunciature in Nairobi. Pope John Paul II visited Kenya thrice during his tenure, in 1980, 1985 and 1995. Pope Francis visited Kenya in November 2015. The Holy See has a nunciature in Antananarivo. Madagascar has an embassy in Rome. The Holy See maintains an apostolic nunciature in Brazzaville.
The Holy See has an nunciature in Kigali. Rwanda has an embassy to the Holy See. Relations between the two States have been strained since the Rwanda genocide. Many bishops were under the ideological influence of the previous Hutu nationalist government, and the government of Paul Kagame has tried to purge the episcopacy of hostile elements. Priests that participated in the killings behaved in a way no different from the majority of the population, a phenomenon which has led to a grave collective and spiritual guilt, and has led to the growth of Evangelical churches and Islamic organizations. In part, this has been attributed to an ethnic-based liberation theology, which was denounced by the Holy See in the 1970s and 1980s.
