Papal Citizenship

[Deerslyr]

Ok… I don’t really know where else to post this. No article to link to for my question… but today I was reading about the Conclave and the American Cardinals and how if one of them was elected, certain areas of the world would think that the CIA rigged the vote or that Wall Street “bought” the election. Absurd… I know! But it got me to thinking…

What is the “citizenship” of the Pope? Say an American does become Pope… could that person vote in the General Election? Or does the Pope, wherever he may be from, renounce citizenship and take up citizenship in the Vatican City?

It’s a trivial matter for sure, but the Pope becomes “head of state”.

 

[YoungTradCath]

The Pope is a citizen of Vatican City. Whether he retains citizenship of his home country, I do not know.

 

[lizaanne]

The Pope is a citizen of Vatican City. Whether he retains citizenship of his home country, I do not know.

The United States does not allow dual citizenship. In order for someone to be a citizen of another country, if they are an American, they need to choose - they cannot be both. Some countries do allow dual citizenship, but the US is not one of them.

I think it’s an interesting question.

~Liza

 

[DexUK]

The United States does not allow dual citizenship. In order for someone to be a citizen of another country, if they are an American, they need to choose - they cannot be both. Some countries do allow dual citizenship, but the US is not one of them.

I think it’s an interesting question.

~Liza

That is not strictly true - the US does allow dual citizenship by birth - the Mayor of London, for example, holds both UK and US passports.

As for the Pope, I have it in the back of my mind that Cardinals all have Vatican citizenship if they want it, but I might be wrong. Certainly the Pope, being Head of State of the Vatican would automatically gain citizenship of the Vatican.

 

[mikeeh]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_nationality_law#Dual_citizenship

 

[DavidFilmer]

The United States does not allow dual citizenship.

This is absolutely untrue.

From the website of the US State Department:

a child born in a foreign country to US citizen parents may be both a US citizen and a citizen of the country of birth.

A US citizen may acquire foreign citizenship by marriage, or a person naturalized as a US citizen may not lose the citizenship of the country of birth .US law does not mention dual nationality or require a person to choose one citizenship or another. Also, a person who is automatically granted another citizenship does not risk losing US citizenship.

I happen to work with several UK and Indian citizens who also hold US citizenship. They hold valid passports for both nations.

 

[Michael_Francis]

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