Now that the scandal of the sex abuse of minor boys and girls and adult men and women in virtually every country with a church presence has touched the heart of the Vatican, singeing the present Pope himself for his alleged role in the protection of guilty priests, it may be appropriate to seek a review of the unique status the Roman Catholic Church enjoys at the United Nations. The Vatican slipped into the UN in the guise of the Holy See, the Government of the Roman Catholic Church, and sits on that august body as a Non-member State Permanent Observer.

The UN Secretary-General owes it to the international community to define the church as either a religion or a polity. If the Vatican is a state, it must end its presence as a religion in other countries; if it represents a faith denomination, it should participate in UN forums in exactly the same way as other religions and sects do - as a non-governmental organisation. It must no longer be allowed the liberty to practice both religion and politics in other lands, particularly those with predominantly non-Christian populations.

Non-member State Permanent Observer status gives the Vatican some of the privileges of a state; it can speak and vote at UN conferences, a privilege denied to other religions and sects. As UN conferences operate on consensus, the power to disagree with an emerging consensus carries weight. It is pertinent that the Holy See was not invited to participate in the UN; it sought recognition as a state in international bodies; it got in though no vote was ever taken on its presence at the UN by the General Assembly.

The Holy See is definitionally a "non-territorial religious entity". It does not meet the legal criteria for statehood as defined by the Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States: "The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) Government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states."

The Holy See does not meet these criteria as it does not have a ‘permanent population', as it is the governing body of Catholics worldwide and not a territory; for this reason it does not possess a defined territory. As late as 1985, it had diplomatic relations with only 53 countries; America established diplomatic ties with the Holy See only in 1984, possibly as part of its geo-strategic thrust against the then Soviet Bloc.