A Vatican passport () is a passport issued by the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

or by

Vatican City State Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State (; ), is a Landlocked country, landlocked sovereign state and city-state; it is enclaved within Rome, the capital city of Italy and Bishop of Rome, seat of the Catholic Church. It became inde ...

. The Holy See issues

diplomatic Diplomatics (in American English, and in most anglophone countries), or diplomatic (in British English), is a scholarly discipline centred on the critical analysis of documents, especially historical documents. It focuses on the conventions, pr ...

and

service passport A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that certifies a person's Identity (social science), identity and nationality for international travel. A passport allows its bearer to enter and temporarily reside in a foreign ...

s, while the Vatican City State can issue ordinary passports for its citizens. The Holy See and the Vatican City State are two subjects of international law and are presided over by the Pope through the Secretariat of State of the Holy See and the

Governorate of Vatican City State The Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State (, ) is the legislative body of Vatican City. It consists of a president, who also holds the title of President of the Governorate and deputizes as the head of government of Vatican City, as well ...

respectively. Each of these two entities issues its own passports. Of the approximately 800

residents In law and conflict of laws, domicile is relevant to an individual's "personal law", which includes the law that governs a person's status and their property. It is independent of a person's nationality. Although a domicile may change from time t ...

of Vatican City, more than 450 have Vatican citizenship. These include the approximately 135 Swiss Guards. About the same number of citizens of the state live in various countries, chiefly in the diplomatic service of the Holy See. The Vatican City State law on citizenship, residence and access, which was promulgated on 22 February 2011, classifies citizens into three categories: #

Cardinals Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

resident in Vatican City or in Rome; # Diplomats of the Holy See; # Persons residing in Vatican City because of their office or service. Only for the third category is an actual grant of citizenship required. Diplomatic passports of the Holy See, not passports of the Vatican State, are held by those in the Holy See's diplomatic service. Service passports of the Holy See can be issued to people in the service of the Holy See even if not citizens of Vatican City. Vatican City passports are issued to citizens of the state who are not in the service of the Holy See. Passports issued by Vatican City are in Italian, French and English; those issued by the Holy See are in Latin, French and English.

References

External links

"Passports: Holy See – Vatican City State"
official website {{Passports

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

Government of Vatican City Foreign relations of the Holy See

See also

References

External links