TEXT 5: DIPLOMATIC RANK, CORPS AND NUNCIO

1. Until the early 19th Century, each European nation had its own system of diplomatic rank. The relative ranks of diplomats from different nations had been a source of considerable dispute, made more so by the insistence of major nations to have their diplomats ranked higher than those of minor nations.

2. In an attempt to resolve the problem, the Congress of Vienna of 1815 formally established an international system of diplomatic ranks. The four ranks within the system were:

3. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, or simply Ambassador. A diplomatic mission headed by an ambassador would be known as an Embassy.

4. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, or simply Envoy. A diplomatic mission headed by an envoy would be called a Legation.

5. Minister Resident, or simply Minister. A diplomatic mission headed by a minister resident would also be called a Legation.

6. Chargé d'affaires, or simply Chargé. As the French title suggests, a chargé d'affaires would be in charge of an embassy's or a legation's affairs in the (usually temporary) absence of a more senior diplomat.

7. Of the four diplomatic ranks, only the ambassador represents the head of state (rather than the government as is the case for the other ranks); originally only the ambassador was entitled to use the honorary title "His/Her Excellency".

8. As it turned out, this system of diplomatic rank did nothing to solve the problem of the nations' precedence. The appropriate diplomatic ranks used would be determined by the precedence among the nations; thus the exchanges of ambassadors (the highest diplomatic rank) would be reserved among major nations. In contrast, a major nation would probably send just an envoy to a minor nation, who in return would send an envoy to the major nation. As a result, the United States did not use the rank of ambassador until the end of the 19th Century.

9. By the end of World War II, it was no longer considered acceptable to treat some nations as inferior to others. Consequently the use of the ranks of envoy and minister resident gradually ceased, and for all intents and purposes the only permanent diplomatic rank used today is that of the ambassador.

10. The diplomatic corps is the collective body of foreign diplomats accredited to a particular country. The term is sometimes erroneously defined as being the collective body of diplomats from a particular country — the proper term for this definition would be "diplomatic service". The diplomatic corps is not always given any formal recognition by its host country, but can be referenced by official orders of precedence.

11. In some countries, the longest-serving ambassador to a country is given the title Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, and is sometimes accorded a high position in the order of precedence - in New Zealand, for example, the Dean takes precedence over figures such as the Deputy Prime Minister, former Governors-General, and the Chief Justice. The diplomatic corps may also co-operate amongst itself on a number of matters, including certain dealings with the host government.

12. Nuncio comes from the ancient Latin Nuntius, meaning any envoy. A Papal Nuncio (also known as an Apostolic Nuncio) is a permanent diplomatic representative (head of mission) of the Holy See to a state, having ambassadorial rank. However, he often also serves as the Vatican's eye on the national church, officiously supervising the episcopate. He is usually a (titular) bishop or archbishop.

13. Internuncios (also heads of missions) rank below Nuncios, being of the rank of an Envoy or Minister, with broadly the same task. A legate a latere, however, is a temporary papal representative or a representative for a special purpose. Historically, an apocrisiary was a nuncio to the Byzantine Empire; during the fifth and sixth centuries, during which much of Italy remained under Byzantine control, many Popes were former apocrisiaries.

14. A Pro-Nuncio is a diplomatic representative who is not of full ambassadorial rank, his status representing the nature of the diplomatic relationship between the Holy See and the state to which he has been assigned. For nations with whom the Vatican has no offical ties, an Apostolic Delegate is sent to serve as a liaison to the Catholic Church in that nation. Until recent times an Apostolic Delegate served as the papal representative to the United States and the United Kingdom. Both states, however, established formal relations with the Holy See in the late twentieth century, allowing for the appointment of a Papal Nuncio.

15. The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations provides that (article 14(2)) "Except as concerns precedence and etiquette, there shall be no differentiation between heads of mission by reason of their class." Some states give special precedence to representatives of the Holy See, which they are permitted to do by the Convention (article 16(3)) "This article is without prejudice to any practice accepted by the receiving State regarding the precedence of the representative of the Holy See."

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