> as lemmas

5. With the (occasionally his), and usually with capital initial. The office or position of Pope, the papacy; the authority or jurisdiction of, or the district under the jurisdiction of, the Pope and the papal court; the Pope and the papal court as a single entity. Formerly also occasionally: †the Pope in his official capacity (obsolete). Chiefly, and now only, with modifier, as Holy (also Apostolic, Papal, Roman, etc.) See, See of Rome. Cf. Vatican n.The Holy See acquired a sovereign independent territorial base, the Vatican City State, under the terms of the 1929 Lateran Treaty with Italy, but itself is a much more ancient and wider juridical entity which represents the Vatican City State internationally and conducts diplomatic relations with other states, having the power to sign treaties, enter agreements, and join international organizations, and since 1964 having Permanent Observer status at the United Nations. [In patristic writers (e.g. Augustine, 5th cent.) post-classical Latin Sedes Apostolica ‘Apostolic See’ was applied more widely to any of the bishoprics founded by apostles; in medieval writers (e.g. in the 11th cent.) it occurs also in the general sense of ‘cathedral’.]