Legal status of the Holy See 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 states; its possession of
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