Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations 2014, holds the diplomatic rank of Apostolic Nuncio (Papal Ambassador) and the ecclesiastical title of a titular archbishop. He is assisted by the Reverend Father Roger Landry, a priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River (in Fall River, Massachusetts, a large suburb of Providence, Rhode Island, south of Boston), former pastor of St. Bernadette's Parish there. Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations The Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations is the representative of the Holy See at the United Nations. The diplomatic mission does not have the status of Permanent
Foreign relations of the Holy See 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. It had the territory of the States of the Church under its direct sovereign rule since centuries before that