Secretariat of State (Holy See)

Pope Leo X established another position, the Secretarius Intimus, to assist the Cardinal who had control of the affairs of State and to attend to correspondence in languages other than Latin, chiefly with the Apostolic Nuncios (who at that time were evolving into permanent diplomatic representatives).

With the apostolic constitution Sapienti Consilio of 29 June 1908, Saint Pius X divided the Sacred Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs in the form fixed by the Codex Iuris Canonici of 1917 (Can.

With the apostolic constitution Regimini Ecclesiae universae[2] of 15 August 1967, Pope Paul VI reformed the Roman Curia, implementing the desire expressed by the bishops in the Second Vatican Council.

In December 2020, Pope Francis enacted legislation stripping the Secretariat of State of its financial assets and real estate holdings following its bungled management of hundreds of millions of euros in donations.

The Section for General Affairs handles the normal operations of the Church including organizing the activities of the Roman Curia, making appointments to curial offices, publishing official communications, papal documents, handling the concerns of embassies to the Holy See, and keeping the papal seal and Fisherman's Ring.

The Congregation for the Ecclesiastical Affairs of the Kingdom of France was set up by Pope Pius VI with the Constitution Sollicitudo omnium ecclesiarum in 1793 to deal with the problems created for the Church by the French Revolution.

In 1814, Pope Pius VII gave this office responsibility for negotiations with all governments, renaming it the Extraordinary Congregation for the Ecclesiastical Affairs of the Catholic World (Latin: Congregatio Extraordinaria Praeposita Negotiis Ecclesiasticis Orbis Catholici).

Some years later, Pope Leo XII changed its name to the Sacred Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs (Latin: Sacra Congregatio pro Negotiis Ecclesiasticis Extraordinariis), which remained its title until 1967 when Pope Paul VI separated this body from the Secretariat of State, calling it the Council for the Public Affairs of the Church.

On 21 November 2017, the Secretariat announced that Pope Francis had created the Section for Diplomatic Staff, expanding the responsibilities of the Delegate for Pontifical Representations.