Foreign relations of the Holy See treaties. Traditionally, an agreement on religious matters between the Holy See of the Catholic Church and a sovereign state is called a concordat. This often includes both recognition and privileges for the Catholic Church in a particular country, such as exemptions from certain legal matters and processes, issues such as taxation, as well as the right of a state to influence the selection of bishops within its territory. Foreign relations of the Holy See The Holy See has long been recognised as a subject of international law and as an active participant in international relations. One observer has said that
Foreign relations of the Holy See diminishing, the number of diplomats accredited to the Holy See grew from sixteen in 1871 to twenty-seven in 1929, even before it again acquired territorial sovereignty with the founding of the State of Vatican City. 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