Vatican Politics: Structure and Function

As a political component of the contemporary world, the Catholic il Church plays an important if ambivalent role in international affairs. On February 25, 1971, in Moscow, Archbishop Agostino Casaroli, head of the Vatican's bureau of Public Affairs, affixed die signature of die Holy See to the ratification of die International Treaty Limiting die Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. That same day, in London and Washington, die respective Apostolic Delegates to England and the United States signed identical documents. The participation of papal representatives in this international agreement raises a number of queries in the political order, not the least of which is the fundamental problem regarding die nature of the papacy as a sovereignty. No other religious institution in the modern world functions as bodi a church and a political organization that exchanges diplomatic representatives and claims total recognition as an independent member of die community of nations.