Message #74448

[Bianca]

                                        Politics and government of Vatican City
 


 
Pope
Benedict XVI

Roman Curia

Secretariat of State

Roman Congregations

Vicariate General of Rome

Vatican City

Pontifical Commission

President

Conclave: 2005

Lateran Treaty
 

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 Politics of Vatican City



The politics of Vatican City takes place in a framework of an absolute theocratic monarchy, in which the head of the Catholic Church takes power. The Pope exercises ex officio principal legislative, executive, and judicial power over the State of the Vatican City (an entity distinct from the Holy See), which is a rare case of a non-hereditary monarchy.[11]





Political system



The government of Vatican City has a unique structure.

The Pope is the sovereign of the state. Legislative authority is vested in the Pontifical Commission
for Vatican City State, a body of cardinals appointed by the Pope for five-year periods.

Executive power is in the hands of the President of that commission, assisted by the General Secretary and Deputy General Secretary. The state's foreign relations are entrusted to the Holy See's Secretariat of State and diplomatic service. Nevertheless, the pope has full and absolute executive, legislative and judicial power over Vatican City. He is the last absolute monarch in Europe.

There are specific departments that deal with health, security, telecommunications, etc.[12]

The Cardinal Camerlengo heads the Apostolic Chamber to which is entrusted the administration of
the property and the protection of the temporal rights of the Holy See during a sede vacante (papal vacancy).

Those of the Vatican State remain under the control of the Pontifical Commission for the State of Vatican City. Acting with three other cardinals chosen by lot every three days, one from each order
of cardinals (cardinal bishop, cardinal priest, and cardinal deacon), he in a sense performs during that period the functions of head of state. All the decisions these four cardinals take must be approved by the College of Cardinals as a whole.

The nobility that was closely associated with the Holy See at the time of the Papal States continued to be associated with the Papal Court after the loss of these territories, generally with merely nominal duties (see Papal Master of the Horse, Prefecture of the Pontifical Household, Hereditary officers of the Roman Curia, Black Nobility).

They also formed the ceremonial Noble Guard. In the first decades of the existence of the Vatican City State, executive functions were entrusted to some of them, including that of Delegate for the State of Vatican City (now denominated President of the Commission for Vatican City).

But with the motu proprio Pontificalis Domus of 28 March 1968,[13] Pope Paul VI abolished the honorary positions that had continued to exist until then, such as Quartermaster General and Master
of the Horse.[14]

The State of the Vatican City, created in 1929 by the Lateran Pacts, provides the Holy See with a temporal jurisdiction and independence within a small territory. It is distinct from the Holy See. The state can thus be deemed a significant but not essential instrument of the Holy See.

The Holy See itself has existed continuously as a juridical entity since Roman Imperial times and has been internationally recognized as a powerful and independent sovereign (at times even suzerain) entity since late antiquity to the present, without interruption even at times when it was deprived of territory (e.g. 1870 to 1929). The Holy See has the oldest active continuous diplomatic service in the world, dating back to at least AD 325 with its legation to the Council of Nicea.[15]

Ambassadors are accredited to the Holy See, never to the Vatican City State.