1.
Secretariat of State (Holy See)
The Secretariat of State is the oldest dicastery in the Roman Curia, the central papal governing bureaucracy of the Catholic Church. It is headed by the Cardinal Secretary of State and performs all the political, the Secretariat is divided into two sections, the Section for General Affairs and the Section for Relations with States, known as the First Section and Second Section, respectively. The origins of the Secretariat of State go back to the fifteenth century, one can trace to this Secretaria Apostolica the Chancery of Briefs, the Secretariat of Briefs to Princes and the Secretariat of Latin Letters. From these beginnings, the Secretariat of State developed, especially at the time of the Council of Trent, for a long time, the Secretarius Intimus, called Secretarius Papae or Secretarius Maior, was almost always a prelate, often endowed with episcopal rank. It was only at the beginning of the pontificate of Innocent X that someone already a Cardinal, Pope Innocent XII definitively abolished the office of Cardinal Nephew, and the powers of that office were assigned to the Cardinal Secretary of State alone.
With the apostolic constitution Regimini Ecclesiae universae of 15 August 1967, Pope Paul VI reformed the Roman Curia, the head of the Secretariat of State is the Secretary of State, who is a cardinal. The Cardinal Secretary of State is primarily responsible for the diplomatic and political activity of the Holy See, the Section for General Affairs is responsible for organizing the activities of nuncios around the world in their activities concerning the local church. The Section for General Affairs is headed by a known as the Substitute for General Affairs, or more formally. The current Substitute for General Affairs to the Secretary of State is Archbishop Giovanni Angelo Becciu, the current Assessor for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State is Monsignor Paolo Borgia. In 1814, Pope Pius VII gave this office responsibility for negotiations with all governments and this Council was replaced by the present Section for Relations with States. The Section is responsible for the Holy Sees interactions with civil governments, the Section is headed by an Archbishop, the Secretary for Relations with States, who reports to the Secretary of State.
His staff includes a Prelate, the Under-Secretary for Relations with States, the Secretary for Relations with States is often called the foreign minister of the Holy See, and the Under-Secretary is often called the deputy foreign minister. The current Secretary for Relations with States is Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the current Undersecretary for Relations with States is Monsignor Antoine Camilleri. The current Delegate for Pontifical Representations is Archbishop Jan Pawłowski and the current Head of Protocol is Monsignor José Avelino Bettencourt
2.
Italian Peninsula
The Italian Peninsula or Apennine Peninsula is the central and the smallest of the three large peninsulas of Southern Europe. It extends 1,000 km from the Po Valley in the north to the central Mediterranean Sea in the south, the peninsulas shape gives it the nickname lo Stivale. Three smaller peninsulas contribute to this shape, namely Calabria, Salento. Geographically, the Italian peninsula consists of the south of a line extending from the Magra to the Rubicon rivers. It excludes the Po Valley and the slopes of the Alps. All of the lies within the territory of the Italian Republic except for the microstates of San Marino. Additionally, Sicily and other islands, such as Palagruža, are usually considered as islands off the peninsula. The peninsula lies between the Tyrrhenian Sea on the west, the Ionian Sea on the south, and the Adriatic Sea on the east, the backbone of the Italian peninsula consists of the Apennine Mountains, from which it takes one of its names. Most of its coast is lined with cliffs, the Italian Peninsulas location between the centre of Europe and the Mediterranean Sea made it the target of many conquests.
The peninsula has mainly a Mediterranean climate, though in the parts the climate is much cooler. Its natural vegetation includes macchia along the coasts and deciduous and mixed coniferous forests in the interior. Political divisions of the peninsula sorted by area, Apennine Mountains Roman Republic Roman Italy Insular Italy Media related to Italian Peninsula at Wikimedia Commons
3.
Pietro Parolin
Pietro Parolin is an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He has served as the Secretary of State since 15 October 2013 and he was elevated to the cardinalate on 22 February 2014. Parolin was born in Schiavon, Province of Vicenza, as the son of a store manager. He has one sister and a brother, when he was ten years old, his father died in a car accident. After he was ordained on 27 April 1980, he took up studies in canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University. He entered the Holy Sees diplomatic service in 1986 at the age of 31 and he served for three years in the Nunciature of Nigeria and another three in the Nunciature of Mexico. In Nigeria he became familiar with the problems in Christian-Muslim relations and these laborious negotiations led to Mexico officially shedding the country’s secular and anti-clerical imprint, which extended to its Constitution. In Rome he was as director for Spain, Italy. He speaks native Italian, fluent English and French, and near-native Spanish, Parolin has been at the forefront of Vatican efforts to approve and implement the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
Addressing the International Atomic Energy Agency on 18 September 2006, at its headquarters in Vienna, Parolin referred to this treaty as the basis to pursue nuclear disarmament and an important element for further development of nuclear energy applications for peaceful purposes. He said, Since this treaty is the only multilateral legal instrument currently available, intended to bring about a nuclear weapons-free world, humanity deserves no less than the full cooperation of all states in this important matter. In 2005 Msgr Parolin was awarded Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, in September 2007 at the opening of the UN he argued that, We often hear in the halls of the United Nations of the responsibility to protect. The Holy See believes that applies in the context of climate change, at the beginning of Pope Benedicts pontificate, direct contact was re-established with China. It was in context that Benedict XVI sent Chinese Catholics the June 2007 Letter. On 17 August 2009 Pope Benedict XVI appointed Msgr, Parolin to a new position as apostolic nuncio to Venezuela.
Talks between the government and Vatican have been held since 1990, Vietnam has one of Asias largest Catholic populations, with more than 6 million followers. In the latest round of talks, a senior Vatican delegation spent the week in Vietnam meeting with Hanoi officials in the hope of laying the groundwork for formal diplomatic relations. During the meeting, the two sides held in-depth and comprehensive discussions on bilateral relations, including issues related to the Catholic Church in Vietnam, the two sides acknowledged the encouraging development in the relations between Vietnam and the Holy See since 1990
4.
Congregation (Roman Curia)
The second highest-ranking departments of the Roman Curia are called congregations. Above them are the three Secretariats, lower-ranking are the pontifical councils and pontifical commissions. In origin, the congregations were selected groups of cardinals, not the whole College of Cardinals, today, as a result of a decision of the Second Vatican Council, the membership includes diocesan bishops from diverse parts of the world who are not cardinals. Each congregation has a permanent staff to assist it in dealing with the business comes before it. Each congregation is led by a prefect, who is usually a cardinal, until recently, a non-cardinal appointed to head a congregation was styled pro-prefect until made a cardinal. Ecclesiastical business used to be handled by the pontifical chancery, the ever-growing number of business items and the ever-increasing complexity of the issues necessitated the creation of separate, specialised administrative-legislative bodies. Thereafter, cardinals in greater or less number were associated with them, however, they were not merely entrusted with the preparation of the case, but were given authority to decide it.
This division would evidently facilitate the selection of wise and experienced men in all branches of ecclesiastical affairs, hence a natural division into executive cases, assigned to the offices, judicial cases, reserved to the tribunals, and administrative cases, committed to the Roman Congregations. By a judicious division of administrative matters, he established that permanent organization of these departments of the Curia, on 29 June 1908, with the constitution Sapienti Consilio, Pope St. Pius X reduced the number of the congregations to 11. Wherefore, it is forbidden for an officer of one of the congregations to serve in any way as an agent, or as a procurator or advocate, the competency of the congresso in each congregation is determined. The congresso consists of the officers under the presidency of the cardinal who presides over the congregation. It deals with the matters of importance among those that are before the congregation. It is the business of the congresso to prepare for their discussion those matters that are to be considered by the full congregation.
On the other hand, the congresso is charged with the execution of the orders of the congregation that have received the approval of the pope. The normæ peculiares and the communes, together with the Constitution Sapienti Consilio. Following the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI implemented many of the called for in the Curia with his Constitution Regimini Ecclesiae Universae of 15 August 1967. One of the changes brought about by Paul VI was the admission of diocesan bishops and archbishops as members of the Congregations. The most recent reorganization of the Roman Congregations came with Pope John Paul IIs Constitution Pastor Bonus, agents of Roman Congregations This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Charles, ed. article name needed
5.
Rome
Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was taken up by Ovid and Livy. Rome is called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism.
Famous artists, painters and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum.
Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
6.
Pope Francis
Pope Francis is the 266th and current Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, a title he holds ex officio as Bishop of Rome, and sovereign of Vatican City. He chose Francis as his name in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi. Born in Buenos Aires, Bergoglio worked briefly as a chemical technologist and he was ordained a Catholic priest in 1969, and from 1973 to 1979 was Argentinas provincial superior of the Society of Jesus. He became the Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was created a cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II and he led the Argentine Church during the December 2001 riots in Argentina, and the administrations of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner considered him a political rival. Following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI on 28 February 2013, throughout his public life, Pope Francis has been noted for his humility, emphasis on Gods mercy, concern for the poor, populist causes and commitment to interfaith dialogue. He maintains that the church should be open and welcoming.
He does not support unbridled capitalism, Marxism, or Marxist versions of liberation theology, Francis maintains the traditional views of the church regarding abortion, contraception, ordination of women, and priestly celibacy. He opposes consumerism, irresponsible development, and supports taking action on climate change, in international diplomacy, he helped to restore full diplomatic relations between the U. S. and Cuba. Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born on 17 December 1936 in Flores and he was the eldest of five children of Mario José Bergoglio and Regina María Sívori. Mario Bergoglio was an Italian immigrant accountant born in Portacomaro in Italys Piedmont region, Regina Sívori was a housewife born in Buenos Aires to a family of northern Italian origin. Mario Josés family left Italy in 1929, to escape the fascist rule of Benito Mussolini, María Elena Bergoglio, the Popes only living sibling, confirmed that their emigration was not for economic reasons. His other siblings were Alberto Horacio, Oscar Adrián and Marta Regina, two great-nephews and Joseph, died in a traffic collision.
In the sixth grade, Bergoglio attended Wilfrid Barón de los Santos Ángeles and he attended the technical secondary school Escuela Técnica Industrial N°27 Hipólito Yrigoyen, named after a past President of Argentina, and graduated with a chemical technicians diploma. He worked for a few years in that capacity in the section at Hickethier-Bachmann Laboratory where his boss was Esther Ballestrino. Before joining the Jesuits, Bergoglio worked as a bar bouncer and as a janitor sweeping floors, in the only known health crisis of his youth, at the age of 21 he suffered from life-threatening pneumonia and three cysts. He had part of a lung excised shortly afterwards, Bergoglio has been a lifelong supporter of San Lorenzo de Almagro football club. Bergoglio is a fan of the films of Tita Merello, Bergoglio found his vocation to the priesthood while he was on his way to celebrate the Spring Day. He passed by a church to go to confession, and was inspired by the priest
7.
Dominique Mamberti
Dominique François Joseph Mamberti is the Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura in the Roman Curia. He was elevated to the cardinalate by Pope Francis in 2015, Dominique Mamberti was born in Marrakesh, Morocco, on 7 March 1952 and was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Ajaccio, France, on 20 September 1981. He has academic degrees in civil and canon law, Mamberti is considered an expert on Latin America, the United Nations, the Middle East and Islam. On 18 May 2002, Pope John Paul II appointed him Titular Archbishop of Sagona and Apostolic Nuncio to Sudan and he received episcopal consecration from Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano on 3 July 2002. On 19 February 2004, he was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Eritrea and he was appointed Secretary for Relations with States by Pope Benedict XVI on 15 September 2006. This post is generally seen as the equivalent of Foreign Minister of the Holy See, in 2007 Archbishop Mamberti was awarded the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.
In September 2007, Mamberti orchestrated the first official visit between an Arab Head of State, Sudans President Omar el-Bashir and Pope Benedict, the visit took place at the Popes Summer residence, Castel Gondolfo. Shortly after this event, the King of Saudi Arabia met the Pope. This marked the beginning of a new period of Catholic-Muslim relations and he met with President Raul Castro, saying afterward that bilateral relations are cordial, continuing and on the rise. The visit of Mamberti showed the development of relations between the state and the Catholic Church in Cuba, the governments note said. Archbishop Dominique Mamberti did not say whether the Vatican explicitly supported the Palestinians U. N. initiative, one of them has already been created, while the other has not yet been established, although nearly 64 years have passed. The Holy See is convinced if we want peace, it is necessary to adopt courageous decisions. At the opening of the UN General Assembly in September 2012, Mamberti said that law is solidly based upon the dignity and nature of humanity—in other words.
He called the UN delegates attention to the language of the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, international law will earn recognition and respect, he said, if it is recognised as protecting every person and nation, not favouring the powerful. In a separate address in early October 2012, Mamberti spoke of the theme of the assembly was the Adjustment or settlement of disputes or situations by peaceful means. All interested parties should not only facilitate the mission of the envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League. On January 16,2013, Mamberti gave an interview to Vatican Radio about the Catholic Churchs autonomy and he defended the right to a conscience clause for Christian employers who refused services to homosexuals. Mamberti said that the Holy See is “deeply concerned” with the suffering of Christians in the region, Christian communities are suffering unjustly, they are scared, and many Christians have been forced to emigrate, he said
8.
Giuseppe Bertello
Giuseppe Bertello is a Catholic prelate and Cardinal currently serving as the President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and President of the Governorate of Vatican City State. Bertello was ordained a priest on 29 June 1966 by Bishop Albino Mensa and he earned a licence in pastoral theology and a doctorate in canon law. He went on to attend the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy where he studied diplomacy and he entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1971, and worked until 1973 in the nunciature to the Sudan, which was the apostolic delegation for the Red Sea region. From 1973 to 1976, he was secretary at the nunciature to Turkey and he was secretary in the nunciature to Venezuela from 1976 to 1981, and served with the rank of auditor in the Office of the Organization of the United Nations in Geneva from 1981 to 1987. On 17 October 1987, Pope John Paul II named him Titular Archbishop of Urbs Salvia and appointed him Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana, Togo and he was consecrated on 28 November by Cardinal Secretary of State Agostino Casaroli, with Bishops Albino Mensa and Luigi Bettazzi as the principal co-consecrators.
On 12 January 1991, he was transferred to Rwanda, where he witnessed the buildup to the Tutsi Genocide in 1994 and he was the fist diplomatic figure to withdraw when the genocide erupted following the assassination of President Habyarimana on the 6th April. In March 1995, John Paul II appointed him to the post of Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva from 1997, with the same role at the World Trade Organization. Upon his appointment Bertello negotiated the ingress of the Holy See as permanent observer, in the World Trade Organization, on 27 December 2000, the Pope entrusted him with another task, that of Apostolic Nuncio to Mexico. On 30 July 2002, he received the Pope arriving on a visit in the country for the canonisation of Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin. In 2007, Bertello was appointed to the prestigious post of apostolic nuncio to Italy and the Republic of San Marino by Pope Benedict XVI. In 2007 he was awarded with the Grand Cross of the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle, on 6 January 2012, Pope Benedict announced that Archbishop Bertello would be created cardinals.
He was created Cardinal-Deacon of Santi Vito, Modesto e Crescenzia on 18 February and he was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2013 papal conclave that elected Pope Francis. On 13 April 2013 he was appointed to a group established by Pope Francis to advise him
9.
Foreign relations of the Holy See
It remains such, and indeed one observer has said that its interaction with the world has, in the period since World War II, been at its highest level ever. The diplomatic activities of the Holy See are directed by the Secretariat of State, the Holy See recognizes all UN member states, except for China and North Korea. The Holy See recognizes the State of Palestine, the only other non-UN member it recognizes besides for Taiwan, since medieval times the episcopal see of Rome has been recognized as a sovereign entity. Earlier, there were papal representatives to the Emperors of Constantinople, beginning in 453, in the eleventh century the sending of papal representatives to princes, on a temporary or permanent mission, became frequent. In the fifteenth century it became customary for states to accredit permanent resident ambassadors to the Pope in Rome, the first permanent papal nunciature was established in 1500 in Venice. Their number grew in the course of the century to thirteen. With the First World War and its aftermath the number of states with diplomatic relations with the Holy See increased, for the first time since relations were broken between the Pope and Queen Elizabeth I of England, a British diplomatic mission to the Holy See was opened in 1914.
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, 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 accepted requests to act as arbitrator between countries, including a dispute between Germany and Spain over the Caroline Islands. The Lateran Treaty of 1929 and the founding of the Vatican City State was not followed by any great immediate increase in the number of states with which the Holy See had official relations and this came later, especially after the Second World War. The Holy See, as a sovereign entity and full subject of international law. It had the territory of the States of the Church under its direct sovereign rule since centuries before that time, currently it has the territory of the State of the Vatican City under its direct sovereign rule. The Holy See currently has diplomatic relations with 180 sovereign states and in addition with the sovereign entity Order of Malta, the Holy See 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 and it has official formal contacts, without establishing diplomatic relations, Afghanistan, Somalia and Saudi Arabia. He was expelled, after which the Holy See sent its representative to Taipei instead, Relations of a special nature had previously been in place with Russia similar to those that continue to exist with the Palestinian Liberation Organization. It is a guest of honour to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security, since 6 April 1964, the Holy See has been a permanent observer state at the United Nations. Although the Holy See is closely associated with Vatican City, the independent territory over which the Holy See is sovereign, the Holy See, not Vatican City, maintains diplomatic relations with states, and foreign embassies are accredited to the Holy See, not to Vatican City State. The same authority is extended under international law over the Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See in a foreign country
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