Vatican citizenship

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The Vatican citizenship ( Italian cittadinanza vaticana ) is not inheritable and is not granted to anyone who is born in Vatican City . Thus, the traditional criteria for obtaining citizenship ( Ius Soli and the Ius Sanguinis ) are not applied in the case of the Vatican. The Vatican citizenship is function-related and usually limited to the duration of the official activity in the Vatican. Their validity expires upon termination of the "employment relationship".

development

A Vatican citizenship in the modern sense has only existed since June 7, 1929, the date on which the Lateran Treaty was ratified , Articles 9 and 21 of which contain relevant rules. Italian civil law, including the Nationality Act of 1912, remained valid insofar as no deviating regulation was made.

On June 8, 1929, a first law on citizenship ( Legge sulla cittadinanza ed il soggiorno ) was published in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis .

Citizenship is basically cumulative , i. that is, it can be purchased in addition to an existing one.

Criteria for obtaining

According to the 1929 rules, citizens are:

  • Cardinals living in Rome and the Vatican.
  • Durante munere:
    • For an activity that is required by law (i.e. mandatory) to live in the Vatican.
    • Exercise an activity in the Vatican or in other ecclesiastical offices and a permit from the Cardinal Secretary of State (in some cases together with the Governorate ) to live permanently in the Vatican.
  • Approval of the Pope to take up permanent residence in the Vatican with the express reason to acquire or retain citizenship. This applied particularly to spouses, children (unmarried daughters; sons up to their 25th birthday) and dependent siblings (up to 25th birthday) or parents.

Changes

Since July 6, 1940, all diplomats of the Holy See were considered to be durante munere as "residing" in the Vatican and are therefore citizens.

The law on the Swiss Guard of 16 January 2006 extended their nationality in Art. 85.

Spouses and children of a Vatican citizen can also obtain citizenship on application, provided they live together with him on the state territory, without the outdated age restrictions still applying.

On March 1, 2011, the citizenship regulations were further simplified. According to this, all cardinals residing in the Vatican or Rome and, upon request, all other persons residing in the Vatican and in service will automatically receive citizenship.

Vatican citizens

As of August 18, 1929, there were 529 nationals, including 390 who were also Italians, and 110 members of the Swiss Guard. Curiously, in the two months since it came into force, two children had acquired citizenship by birth.

At the end of 2005 there were 557 citizens: 58 cardinals, 293 clerics (members of papal institutions), 62 other clerics, 110 members of the Swiss Guard and 43 lay people. Slightly less than half (246) retained their original citizenship.

In March 2011, the Vatican State had 572 citizens and 221 non-Vatican citizens.

Loss of citizenship

Ipso iure for permanent resignation in the Vatican. Citizenship expires regularly when the official need to stay in the Vatican ceases to exist. B. Expiry of service in the Swiss Guard . Z. If, for example, Pope John Paul II granted the repeated requests of the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and released him from the curial service into retirement, he would have lost his Vatican citizenship if he had given up his official residence in Rome.

The automatic loss could have led to problems for citizens whose home law provides for the automatic loss of nationality as a result of voluntarily accepting another. Italians were most affected here. Mussolini was already generous in the debates on the Lateran Treaty (Article 9): Former Italians and all third-country nationals who would otherwise have become stateless automatically became (again) Italian citizens.

literature

  • Fragonard, Jean Honoré; Condition des personnes dans la cité du Vatican;
  • Hecker, Hellmuth; The citizenship law of Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, the Vatican City; Frankfurt 1958 (Metzner), pp. 96-110
  • Sarais, Alessio; Cittadinanza vaticana; Città del Vaticano 2012 (Libreria editrice vaticana); ISBN 978-88-209-8874-6

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ German text
  2. ↑ a b Hecker (1958), pp. 96-108.
  3. ↑ Legge sulla cittadinanza, la residenza e l'accesso - Article 1, 2c.
  4. ^ A b Announcement of the German-language L'Osservatore Romano No. 10/2011 (March 11, 2011), p. 12.

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