URBI ET Orbi (“for the city and for the world”) is the traditional blessing the pope offers on special occasions. Although he has at times pronounced it in other venues—St. John Lateran, the pope’s official ecclesiastical seat, or the Quirinale, now the Italian president’s residence—the pontiff usually intones the prayer from the balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square. The ancient ceremony reminds us that the pope holds office as head of the Church because he has been elected bishop of “the city,” Rome; that he is the leader of a global organization whose very name, “Catholic,” means universal (making the whole world his parish); and that he is the head of a miniscule but internationally recognized sovereign state.
Vatican City is in its own way a nation just like any other, with foreign-policy goals, global strategies, and potential allies and adversaries. Referred to officially as “the Holy See,” it is an active participant in a wide range of international institutions including the EU, the Organization of American States, the WTO and the International Labor Organization. It holds official observer status at the UN. And curiously, four decades ago the Vatican solemnly announced that it would adhere to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
It is also a state with which 178 nations now have diplomatic relations, and most maintain permanent embassies to service their connections with the Vatican. Since 1984, when President Ronald Reagan dispatched William Wilson to the post, this corps of diplomats includes one from the United States. It is presently Ambassador Miguel Díaz, a Cuban-American liberation theologian appointed by President Barack Obama.
