Legal status of the Holy See of 16 July 2004. Legal status of the Holy See The legal status of the Holy See, the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, both in state practice and according to the writing of modern legal scholars, is that of a full subject of public international law, with rights and duties analogous to those of States. Although the Holy See, as distinct from the Vatican City State, does not fulfill the long-established criteria in international law of statehood; i.e. having a permanent population, a defined territory, a stable government and the capacity to enter into relations with other
Legal status of the Holy See of effectiveness", that is, from the fact that other states voluntarily recognize the Holy See, acquiesce having bilateral relations with it, and in fact do so, in a situation where no rule of "ius cogens" is breached. For him, though, the international personality thus conferred is effective only towards those states prepared to enter into diplomatic relations with it. Crawford similarly believes that the recognition of a number of states is important evidence to acknowledge the legal personality of the Holy See, so that, today, it cannot be denied. For a third group of authors, the international legal personality of