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
Foreign relations of the Holy See 27) in the period between 1871 and 1929. The Holy See currently has diplomatic relations with sovereign states (including the partially internationally recognized Republic of China) and in addition with the sovereign entity Order of Malta and the supranational union European Union. The Holy See also has established official diplomatic relations with the State of Palestine. By agreement with the government of Vietnam, it has a non-resident papal representative to that country. It has official formal contacts, without establishing diplomatic relations, with: Afghanistan, Brunei, Somalia, Oman, and Saudi Arabia. The Holy See additionally maintains some apostolic delegates to local Catholic