Orders, decorations, and medals of the Holy See Orders, decorations, and medals of the Holy See The orders, decorations, and medals of the Holy See include titles, chivalric orders, distinctions and medals honoured by the Holy See, with the Pope as the fount of honour, for deeds and merits of their recipients to the benefit of the Holy See, the Catholic Church, or their respective communities, societies, nations and the world at large. Some of these honours are defunct or currently dormant, while some are still actively conferred. "Papal orders of knighthood" or "Pontifical orders of knighthood" are orders of knighthood bestowed in the name of the Pope
Holy See weakened the authority of the Holy See throughout much of Europe. Following the French Revolution, the Papal states was briefly occupied as the "Roman Republic" in 1798–1799 as a sister republic of the First French Empire under Napoleon, before the territority was reestablished. Notwithstanding, the Holy See was represented in and identified as a "permanent subject of general customary international law vis-à-vis all states" in the Congress of Vienna in 1814-1815. The Papal States was recognised under the rule of the Papacy and largely restored to their former extent. Despite the Capture of Rome in 1870 by the Kingdom of