Secretary for Relations with States

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The Secretary for Relations with States is the foreign minister of the Holy See, an official serving within the Secretariat of State, presiding over its "Second Section". This titular archbishop, the Vatican's top foreign-policy official, deals with relations between the Holy See and other government and international bodies.

[edit] History of the office

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On 28 June 1988, John Paul II promulgated the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus, which introduced a reform of the Roman Curia and divided the Secretariat of State into two sections: the Section for General Affairs and the Section for Relations with States, which incorporated the Council for the Public Affairs of the Church. This guaranteed both unity of purpose and the specificity required in the service which the Secretariat of State is called to offer the Pope.

On the basis of Articles. 45-47 of Pastor Bonus, the Section for Relations with States or Second Section has the specific duty of attending to matters which involve civil governments. It has responsibility for the Holy See’s diplomatic relations with States including: the establishment of Concordats or similar agreements; the Holy See’s presence in international organizations and conferences; in special circumstances, by order of the Supreme Pontiff and in consultation with the competent dicasteries of the Curia, provides for appointments to particular Churches, and for their establishment or modification; in close collaboration with the Congregation for Bishops, it attends to the appointment of Bishops in countries which have entered into treaties or agreements with the Holy See in accordance with the norms of international law.

This Section began as the Congregation Super Negotiis Ecclesiasticis Regni Galliarum, set up by Pope Pius VI with the Constitution Sollicitudo Omnium Ecclesiarum of 28 May 1793, in order to deal with the problems which the French Revolution posed for the Church. In 1814, Pope Pius VII gave this office responsibility for the entire world and named it Congregatio Extraordinaria Praeposita Negotiis Ecclesiasticis Orbis Catholici. Some years later, Pope Leo XII changed its name to Congregatio Pro Negotiis Ecclesiasticis Extraordinariis, which remained its title until 1967 when Pope Paul VI separated this body from the Secretariat of State, calling it the Council for the Public Affairs of the Church. This Council was later replaced by the present Section for Relations with States.

The Second Section of the Secretariat of State is headed by an Archbishop, the Secretary for Relations with States, aided by a Prelate, the Under-Secretary for Relations with States, and assisted by Cardinals and Bishops.