"[2] As Graham notes: The fact that the Holy See is a non-territorial institution is no longer regarded as a reason for denying it international personality.
[4] Prof. Maurice Mendelson (then lecturer) argued that "[i]n two respects it may be doubted whether the territorial entity, the Vatican City, meets the traditional criteria of statehood" and that "[t]he special status of the Vatican City is probably best regarded as a means of ensuring that the Pope can freely exercise his spiritual functions, and in this respect is loosely analogous to that of the headquarters of international organisations.
According to Tauran, the Holy See is unquestionably a sovereign subject of international law but of a predominantly religious nature.
In this sense, Brownlie argues that the personality of the Holy See “as a religious organ apart from its territorial base in the Vatican City” arises from the "principle of effectiveness", that is, from the fact that other states voluntarily recognize the Holy See, acquiesce having bilateral relations with it, and in fact do so, in a situation where no rule of ius cogens is breached.
[8] Crawford similarly believes that the recognition of a number of states is important evidence to acknowledge the legal personality of the Holy See, so that, today, it cannot be denied.
Araujo notes, for instance, that "it is generally understood that the Holy See’s international personality emerges from its religious, moral and spiritual authority and mission in the world as opposed to a claim over purely temporal matters.
In article 2, Italy recognized "the sovereignty of the Holy See in the international domain as an attribute inherent in its nature, in accordance with its tradition and with the requirements of its mission in the world."
Nevertheless it is accepted that in one form or the other there exists a state possessing the formal requirements of statehood and constituting an international person recognized as such by other states.Kunz sharply criticized this view.
[12]A separate question is whether the Holy See was a subject of international law between 1870, when the Kingdom of Italy annexed the Papal States, and 1929, when the Lateran Treaties were signed.
On the contrary, the United Nations General Assembly confirmed and raised further the status of the Holy See as an observer within the UN, through its Resolution 58/314 of 16 July 2004.