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
Holy See–Ireland relations Monsignor Luzio. In turn when Luzio returned to the Holy See he was reported to have said that when he came to Ireland to meet the 26 bishops in the country, he had instead "found 26 Popes". This was in part because the commencement of diplomatic relations after Ireland's War of Independence most Irish bishops felt that a nunciature would reduce their authority. Following the 1929 Lateran Treaty between the Kingdom of Italy and the Holy See, other states including the Irish Free State exchanged envoys with the Holy See for the first time. Fianna Fáil deplored that the government