Why is the Pope called the “Holy See”?”
The “Holy See” (From the Latin Sancta Sedes, Holy Chair) isn’t the Pope. It’s the government of the Roman Catholic Church which is headed by the Bishop of Rome (the Pope). It’s also not the Vatican or Vatican City which is a separate political entity although it operates in the Vatican. The term “see” applies to any organized religion’s governing body (most often the Episcopal one) but the Capital S version is the Roman one unless otherwise specified. From the New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia: A term derived from the enthronement-ceremony of the bishops of Rome. The seat or chair in question must not be confounded with the ancient sedes gestatoria in the centre of the apse of St. Peter’s, and immemorially venerated as the cathedra Petri, or Chair of Peter; the term means, in a general sense, the actual seat (i.e. residence) of the supreme pastor of the Church, together with the various ecclesiastical authorities who constitute the central administration. In this canonical and diplomati
