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NewsTranscript
00:00On the margins, statehood starts to get subjective.
00:04There are plenty of countries whose status as sovereign states is never really refuted—France,
00:09Japan, the US.
00:11There are also some that nearly no one recognizes as sovereign states—the Sahrawi Arab Democratic
00:17Republic, Northern Cyprus, South Ossetia.
00:20In between is the subjective line representing near-universal recognition by other countries.
00:26There are nations that start to approach this line, exhibiting most tenets of statehood,
00:30yet lacking the sort of near-universal recognition that leads to the colloquial status of countryhood—Kosovo
00:37and Palestine, most notably.
00:39But then, directly on the other side of the line, is one singular example of a state that
00:44simply does not exhibit many, perhaps even most, of the traditional characteristics of
00:50sovereign statehood, yet enjoys near-universal, unequivocal recognition as a sovereign state.
00:57That is the Vatican.
01:00Perhaps most damningly, the Vatican has no real permanent population.
01:04There are always people there, but each really only lives there while they're working there.
01:09Vatican citizenship exists, but nobody is born into it.
01:12It isn't passed down from generation to generation, it isn't granted as a birthright—meaning
01:17Nobody perceives themselves, from birth till death, as a… well, there actually isn't
01:22a word for that.
01:23There isn't even a universally recognized term to refer to someone from the Vatican,
01:27because nobody's from the Vatican.
01:30It is the only country in the CIA World Factbook, for example, that just doesn't have a demonem
01:35listed because everyone who holds Vatican citizenship was born into another citizenship
01:40and nationality, and perceives themselves primarily as Italian, American, Argentinian,
01:45whatever.
01:46The Vatican also lacks a real economy.
01:48Its main economic activity is selling tickets to its museums.
01:51It doesn't have a healthcare system—residents go to Italy for almost all medical care.
01:55It doesn't have an independent legal system—Italian law applies in most cases, Italian courts
02:00prosecute most crimes, Italian prisons house most of the convicted.
02:04There's no formal education system, little commerce beyond a grocery store and some tourist
02:08shops, hardly a distinct cultural identity outside of the churches.
02:11When you look at it objectively, the Vatican is hardly a nation, and yet it enjoys complete,
02:17near-universally recognized sovereign statehood.
02:21Of course, around the world, there are plenty of non-sovereign entities that view themselves
02:25as sovereign, and therefore operate within a given territory as if they were, but what
02:30they lack is international recognition of their sovereignty.
02:33The Vatican does have international recognition, meaning it has the extremely valuable and
02:39unique right to engage in the formal process of international diplomacy.
02:44No other church has this right—not Islam, not Judaism, not Hinduism, not even any other
02:50Christian denomination.
02:51This one church can set up embassies, appoint ambassadors, even set up representation at
02:56the United Nations.
02:58Historically, there have been a good number of examples of religious authorities holding
03:02sovereign territory, but without fail, every single instance faded away—even those of
03:08the Catholic Church.
03:09For the majority of the last millennium, the papacy exercised sometimes loose, sometimes
03:14firm sovereignty over much of modern-day Italy.
03:17In the late 1700s, the papal states were larger than today's Netherlands and even included
03:22an ex-slave in France.
03:23But this legacy came to an abrupt end on September 20th, 1870, when troops of the newly-born
03:29Kingdom of Italy marched into Rome and captured it following a brief battle with papal forces.
03:34The kingdom did offer the papacy ownership and non-sovereign control over the Leonine
03:39City—the area that encompasses today's Vatican City—as well as a sizable annual
03:43stipend to pay for the operations of the Holy See and broad guarantees of sovereignty in
03:47their operations.
03:48After all, the kingdom still needed to play nice with the church as Italy was a predominantly
03:52Catholic nation, meaning many of its residents were loyal to the pope.
03:55But the pope quickly rejected Italy's offer since doing so would, effectively, act as
04:00recognition of their power over the conquered territory, and since he believed that the
04:03church needed sovereignty entirely independent from that of any political power, as they
04:08had had for the last millennium.
04:10So rather, for the following sixty years, each successive pope, from the moment they
04:14were elected, never left the Vatican.
04:17They believed doing so could be interpreted as accepting the legitimacy of Italian rule.
04:21But when Mussolini came into power in 1922, he wanted to win the support of Italian Catholics,
04:26so he entered into negotiations with the papacy to resolve the conflict which finally culminated
04:31in the 1929 Lateran Treaty.
04:34This, most notably, handed over sovereignty of 0.19 square miles, or 0.49 square kilometers
04:40of land to the Holy See, thereby forming the smallest independent country in the world.
04:46As an independent country, the Vatican does mirror a rough facsimile of traditional government,
04:52but its exact form of governance is entirely unique.
04:55It is the only non-hereditary, elected, absolute monarchy in the world.
05:00One of the many authorities wrapped up in the pope title is, effectively, King of the
05:04Vatican.
05:05He is an absolute monarch with unchecked authority over all legislative, executive, and judicial
05:10decisions.
05:11But it is the only instance of an absolute monarchy where the ruler is elected, rather
05:16than pulled from a line of succession, as the pope is selected from the pool of cardinals
05:19through the famed conclave election.
05:22Despite his supreme authority, the pope has long delegated his authority to others who
05:26actually operationally run the governments.
05:28That government is what's referred to as the Holy See.
05:31Importantly, the Holy See is both the governing body of the Vatican State and the Roman Catholic
05:37Church.
05:38That's to say, there's zero distinction between the state and the church—they are,
05:43quite literally, the same thing.
05:45The Holy See's administrative functions are encompassed by a body called the Roman
05:48Curia, which itself is made up of 16 different dicasteries, or departments.
05:53The oldest, most powerful, and most important dicastery is the Secretariat of State, led
05:58by the Secretary of State, who effectively acts as the Prime Minister of the Holy See.
06:03Of course, the Secretary of State position, like in any government, is that in charge
06:07of diplomatic functions, meaning foreign relations hold a central, supreme position within the
06:12Vatican government.
06:14One of the functions he supervises is the operations of 117 apostolic nunciators globally,
06:19that effectively function as embassies, but here's where things get weirder.
06:24Nunciators are treated as diplomatic missions, and therefore enjoy all the privileges that
06:28embassies and consulates do, like diplomatic immunity, freedom of communication, exemption
06:32from local taxes and laws, and more, yet the nunciators don't actually represent the
06:37Vatican State—they represent the Holy See.
06:42This small distinction adds to the count of anomalies in the ways the Vatican and Holy
06:46See operate.
06:48The Holy See is, more or less, the government of the Vatican.
06:52That government is, in this case, operationally inseparable from the state, but not all governments
06:58are.
06:59So that means that this is not too different from, say, the American Republican Party,
07:03the British Labor Party, the Chinese Communist Party, any governing authority having diplomatic
07:08representation abroad.
07:10Governments themselves are not typically allowed to do that, but the reason why this is possible
07:14at all is that the Holy See, the body in charge of the sovereign state of the Vatican, is
07:20itself considered a sovereign entity.
07:23It's not the only instance of a non-territorial organization holding sovereign powers—the
07:29UN has some, the Red Cross as well, and the most direct equivalent is that of the Sovereign
07:33Military Order of Malta, another Catholic institution—but there's not even broad
07:38consensus on why the Holy See itself has sovereignty.
07:42Some argue that it's because of the Lateran Treaty, as, in addition to the establishment
07:46of a Vatican state, it recognized the Holy See as a sovereign entity, but this is quickly
07:50refuted by the fact that, across the six decades that the Holy See lacked territory, it was
07:55still recognized as a sovereign entity by most of the world—it's still engaged in
08:00formal diplomacy.
08:02So the real explanation seems to be in the unsatisfying fact that everyone has always
08:07kept treating it as a sovereign entity, and therefore, it is one.
08:11Interestingly, the Vatican state itself does have some international representation—it's
08:17a member of the International Postal Union, the International Telecommunications Union,
08:21the World Intellectual Property Organization, and a number of other institutions more closely
08:25related to the administration of the city-state itself.
08:28Meanwhile, the Holy See is the entity that is more commonly represented in anything relating
08:33more to international policymaking.
08:35Particularly, it's the entity that does the majority of interfacing with other countries
08:39and the United Nations.
08:41Just a 15-minute walk from the UN's headquarters, down Manhattan's 43rd Street, past the mission
08:46of the Marshall Islands in India, down 3rd Avenue, and past the mission of New Zealand,
08:49is the Holy See's permanent observer mission to the UN.
08:53Within these walls, it's a fairly small operation—there's Archbishop Gabriel Casilla,
08:58the Apostolic Nuncio, effectively the head diplomat, two counselors to the Archbishop,
09:02five attachés, and a handful of college-age interns from around the world.
09:06While comparatively light in total staffing, this office stays busy, principally in efforts
09:11to communicate the Church's stance on any and all issues brought forth at the UN.
09:15In just the months of April 2024, for example, this mission commented on 13 separate occasions
09:21at UN proceedings, with Archbishop Casilla offering statements at UN main-body institutions
09:26like the General Assembly and Security Council, as well as smaller, more specific institutions
09:30like the Sixth Committee, which considers the UN's legal questions, and the Permanent
09:34Forum on Indigenous Issues.
09:36Not technically a state, but a body administering a sovereign state, the Holy See shares the
09:41distinction with Palestine as one of only two non-member observer states at the UN—even
09:46if the Holy See itself is not technically a state.
09:49On top of a unique standing, the Holy See has a unique backstory as to how it got recognition,
09:54which in turn informs its unique role at the UN.
09:57It began with a world verging on nuclear war when Pope John XXIII boldly entered the diplomatic
10:03fold like no modern pope prior.
10:06As tensions reached their peak with the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the pope went as far
10:10as reaching out directly to Nikita Khrushchev and US leadership, as well as publicly pleading
10:14with the non-Catholic populace of the Soviet Bloc, and really the world via radio, for
10:18peace.
10:19This soft, but very real influence of perhaps the world's most recognizable moral authority
10:24caught the attention of the UN Secretary General, Hugh Thant.
10:27After personally visiting the Vatican, meeting with the new pope Paul VI, Thant accepted
10:31the Holy See's request to become a permanent observer.
10:34With the informal addition, the Holy See could observe, comment, and maintain seats
10:38at the UN's General Assembly, but it couldn't vote.
10:41For its part, though, the Holy See did not, and maintains it still does not, want a vote.
10:46That's on account of the foundational agreement that made a sovereign Vatican possible in
10:50the first place, and simultaneously calls into question the extent of its sovereignty.
10:55Within the Lateran Treaty, Article 24 ensured that the Vatican's representative wouldn't
10:59take sides in issues between states, nor enter any international congresses unless able to
11:04pursue its pacifist mission without bias.
11:06Because the morally-oriented diplomacy of the Vatican lines up rather cleanly with the
11:10four pillars of the UN—the pursuit of peace and security, human rights, the rule of law,
11:14and development—the Holy See is comfortable associating with the international organization,
11:19but such permanent neutrality would be undercut by a vote to enact sanctions against a nation,
11:24for example.
11:25Rather than a vote, the Church's influence over UN proceedings is largely through rhetoric—something
11:30it doesn't take lightly, as four separate popes have taken the time to visit and speak
11:34at the UN, and generally it's rare for the Church to take on an issue or stance very
11:39controversial or counter to the organization's, given the similarity in state admissions.
11:43But some issues do require nuance.
11:46The ethics of, and UN's stance on, human cloning, for example, had member states largely
11:51stumped in the early 2000s, in the wake of scientists' first successful reproductive
11:55cloning of an animal.
11:57For France and Germany, the breakthrough in cloning Dolly the sheep required an immediate
12:01stance on the part of the international community—that reproductive cloning of humans should be immediately
12:05banned.
12:06This seemed a popular and straightforward stance for the UN to adopt, but then came
12:11the Holy See.
12:12Through comments made by Representative Renato Martino in late 2001, who argued that the
12:16ban didn't go far enough, a simple issue took on a new dimension.
12:21Certainly direct reproductive cloning should be banned, but what about therapeutic cloning
12:24and the process of using human stem cells for medical purposes that certain countries
12:28had already legalized and leaned into?
12:30It was undeniably a scientific breakthrough, but one that the Holy See saw as an unethical
12:35affront to human dignity, as human embryos, in the Church's view, were nothing less
12:40than human beings, and thus, using embryos for medical purposes was destroying one life
12:45to help another.
12:46Now the issue had become more complicated, and the UN resolved to consider drafts of
12:50both types of ban in the following session.
12:53What followed was a splintering—the French and German proposal on an immediate ban of
12:57strictly reproductive cloning came forward, as did an alternative, stricter ban from the
13:03US and Costa Rica that largely represented the Holy See's stance, while another effort
13:07led by Iran and backed by many Muslim members sought to push a moratorium on the vote for
13:12two years.
13:13By a single vote, the Iranian moratorium passed, but the Holy See was undeterred and continued
13:19the moral lobbying on the part of the Church across the following vote freeze.
13:23Such persistence ultimately paid off, as the return of the issue in 05 resulted in a ban
13:27on human cloning far wider reaching than that initially introduced in 01.
13:31While fairly vague in its language, non-binding in its terms, and far from unanimous in its
13:36outcome, the ban, passed by popular vote, most closely represented the views of a member
13:40state that was unable to cast a vote on the matter.
13:44Beyond the UN and beyond human cloning, this largely moral, ideological, and peace-oriented
13:49mission informs Holy See diplomacy across all of its international relations.
13:54Syria, as a nation, for example, has a religious composition that's roughly 90% Muslim and
13:59less than 10% Christian, only a fraction of which being Catholic.
14:03And yet, the Holy See and Syria have maintained diplomatic ties since 1953, with a long-standing
14:08nuncio set up in Damascus.
14:10Such a presence and relationship has benefited both sides.
14:14In 2000, with the death of Hafez al-Assad and subsequent question of who the next Syrian
14:19president would be, Syrian officials expressed hope that mediation through Pope John Paul
14:23II would be possible.
14:25And a decade later, seen as unbiased and not politically motivated, the Pope and the Holy
14:29See—not the UN—were again viewed by Muslim leaders as some of the last viable peace brokers
14:34once the Syrian civil war erupted.
14:37Beyond a broad moral obligation to pursue peace, such good moral standing in Middle
14:41Eastern, African, and Muslim-majority countries also allows the Holy See to keep tabs on and
14:46advocate for the rights of Christian-minority populations within such countries, too.
14:50In Indonesia, a Muslim-majority country with which the Holy See has had good standing with
14:54since its early recognition of Indonesian independence, Christians have run into difficulties
14:58getting permits to build places of worship.
15:01To this religious minority, these obstructions have come to represent a passive sort of religious
15:05oppression in a supposedly tolerant nation.
15:07Yet, they're hopeful.
15:09With a 2024 visit from the Pope, Indonesian Christians are believing again that a reignited
15:13respect between the country and the Holy See will serve as a step towards eased tensions
15:18and fewer restraints on building churches.
15:20Of course, in places where Catholicism is the majority, the Vatican maintains a keener
15:25interest.
15:26Here, on the palm-tree-lined streets of Havana, sits the Apostolic Nunciatur of Cuba.
15:30This colonial-style building, just outside of the Old Town, is home to the ecclesiastical
15:34office of the Catholic Church.
15:36Though the nuncio here had been established in 1935 and played varying roles over the
15:40decades, it was in the 2010s that its prominence in geopolitics, and specifically the West,
15:45made headlines.
15:46Shortly after Pope Francis was elected in 2013, United States President Barack Obama
15:50sent an unpublished letter to him.
15:53The timing was notable—Obama had just started his second term as president, and Pope Francis
15:57was beginning tenure as the first pope from the Americas.
16:01The Vatican had long been interested in what happened in Cuba, from a religious and humanitarian
16:05point of view.
16:06Documents show visits and correspondence throughout the 2000s citing concerns about
16:10Cuba's quality of life.
16:11At the beginning of 2014, Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged the pope's calls
16:15for justice in Cuba and the release of political prisoner Alan Gross.
16:19The Holy See embraced a mediator role, with the pope sending letters to both Obama and
16:24Cuban President Raul Castro that summer, urging them to compromise, followed by the Vatican
16:28actually hosting delegations from both parties to moderate those ongoing discussions.
16:32That laid the groundwork for what eventually became known as the Cuban Thaw—the diplomatic
16:36softening between the United States and Cuba reflected by loosened travel restrictions,
16:40pathways to financial transactions, and a general diplomatic openness seen in the reopening
16:44of the Cuban embassy.
16:46On December 17th, 2014, President Obama announced this development.
16:50In his speech, he paid specific attention to the Holy See.
16:53In particular, I want to thank His Holiness Pope Francis, whose moral example shows us
16:57the importance of pursuing the world as it should be, rather than simply settling for
17:01the world as it is.
17:03Later, President Raul Castro expressed similar sentiments while visiting the Vatican, saying,
17:07quote, I am very happy, I have come here to thank him for what he has done to begin solving
17:11the problems of the United States and Cuba.
17:13And though Pope Francis' role was largely symbolic, it was also critical.
17:17The Vatican doesn't have exports, and it doesn't have financial strings to dangle
17:21as incentives for global compromise, but it does have moral authority.
17:25The result was nothing short of history-making, with Cuba releasing Gross, and the subsequent
17:30period of tenuous diplomacy that Cuba and America shared.
17:33And though it didn't last long under the Trump administration, in early 2025 the Vatican
17:37played a pivotal role in the release of 500 Cuban prisoners, with American Cardinal Sean
17:41O'Malley relaying messages from the Vatican to both Cuban and American officials.
17:46Relative to the size of the state, the Vatican holds real power, but that power is vested
17:51in the country's conflation with the central authority of one of the world's largest
17:56meaning it isn't grounded in the factors typically considered when gauging power.
18:00In terms of traditional hard power—the economic levers, the physical imports and exports,
18:05the military might, the human resources, the sticks and carrots—the Holy See's Vatican
18:10flatly has none—singularly, the least out of any sovereign state.
18:15The Holy See can speak its mind on any and all issues, but if push comes to shove, it
18:20really can't do anything about it.
18:22So the state deals in soft power, with 117 nunciators as the physical manifestation of
18:27a remarkably capable diplomatic arm that deals in the gentle nudging.
18:32Soft power without any hard power to back it is limited, too.
18:35Beyond public kudos, the Holy See doesn't have anything to offer.
18:39Beyond public condemnation, the Holy See doesn't have anything to force one's hand—and
18:43it knows as much.
18:44Whether cloning at the UN, or relations between the US and Cuba, the Holy See has a knack
18:49for backing winners—finding broadly reasonable positions with largely appealing moral backing
18:54that few will take major issue with.
18:56It fosters positive outcomes in diplomacy by backing popular positions.
19:01Consider what the Holy See doesn't pursue in international diplomacy, for example—consider
19:06abortion.
19:07The same logic that informs the Holy See's stance on stem cells and therapeutic cloning
19:11doesn't differ from that which informs its stance on abortion.
19:15Life begins at conception, in the Church's view, so abortion essentially represents that
19:20same evil of harvesting embryonic stem cells.
19:22But rather than boisterously and defiantly pursuing anti-abortion legislation on the
19:27international level, the Holy See lets it lie.
19:31Rather than a little dog with a big bark, the Holy See is the very smallest dog that
19:35has a bark at all.
19:37Perhaps then, the Holy See's greatest strength of all as a sovereign state is its recognition
19:41of the limitations of its own sovereignty.
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