In his master work God’s Diplomats, journalist and Vaticanologist, Victor Gaetan writes about the two distinct but inter-related entities The Vatican and The Holy See:
“It’s the Holy See that sends diplomats around the world and receives them. The Holy See signs international instruments, whether on preventing torture, protecting refugees, controlling psychotropic drugs, or eliminating nuclear weapons. The Holy See participates in General Assembly debates at the United Nations as a permanent observer–a status it chose over full membership.”
Vatican City State is the landed territory, located in the centre of Rome, of which the pope is sovereign head of state. But, it is The Holy See which is the governing body of a global, transnational religion of over one billion people aka the People of God.
Under the reigning Pope Francis his Vatican diplomats have questioned the ethics of weaponised drones, challenged bigpharma on their IP claims that may prevent drug access for poor nations, assisted protection of indigenous rights to land and resources taken by mining and other companies and many other current issues.
Few people understand the scale of international diplomatic value created, behind the scenes, by the Nuncii, the Holy See’s First Rank Diplomatic Corps.
Pope Luciani School of Catholic Science Thinking 