How to Cover the Catholic Church

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Covering the Vatican | 5
THE HOLY SEE VS. VATICAN CITY STATE
The official name of the independent state established by the Lateran Pact
with Italy in 1929 is Vatican City State. The name should be used only when
referring to the local civil administration or its agencies—a fairly rare occur-
rence. At 108.7 acres, it is the smallest sovereign nation in the world and is
distinct from the Holy See, which refers to the pope and his Curia.
The Holy See exercises sovereignty over Vatican City State, however. The
pope, as head of the Holy See, has full legislative, judicial and executive pow-
ers, but the secretary of state acts as the pope’s representative in all matters
relating to the civil state. A governor, under the supervision of the Pontifical
Commission for Vatican City State, administers Vatican City State. The agen-
cies that handle Vatican stamps and coins, the post office, and the Vatican
monuments and museums are all part of the civil government offices. You can
find more information at
In discussion of the central offices of the Catholic Church in their global
role of authority and service, the Vatican has come to be interchangeable with
the Holy See in popular speech and in news reporting. In most news contexts
Vatican has become the term of choice. Be careful, however, about using the
Vatican as a blanket term when instead an individual should be cited. For
example, if the head of the Congregation for the Clergy speaks at a news con-
ference, attribute the comments to him in his role as a Vatican official, not to
the Vatican in general.
THE ROMAN CURIA
A dicastery is a major Vatican department or administrative office. The dicast-
eries as a whole are called the Roman Curia. The most common dicasteries
you may encounter as a reporter are listed below, along with the leaders of
each dicastery as of spring 2008. The Secretariat of State and Vatican congre-
gations are usually headed by a cardinal, with bishops, priests, religious, and
laypeople working below him; pontifical councils may be headed by a cardi-
nal or an archbishop. The head of a congregation is called the prefect; the head
of a pontifical council is called the president.
The Vatican maintains sections on its Web site for each dicastery. They con-
tain general information and certain documents, but not everything has been
translated into English, and contact information is in most cases conspicuously
absent. The home page of the VaticanWeb site is ter choosing