There are 183 states which currently have diplomatic relations with the Holy See. The European Union and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta are to be added to the aforementioned States. There are 89 Embassy Chancelleries based in Rome, including those of the European Union and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. The offices of the League of Arab States, the International Organization for Migration and the High Commissioner of the United Nations for Refugees also have offices in Rome.

The following Agreements were signed during 2019: on 13 February, the Agreement between the Holy See and the Italian Republic for the application of the Lisbon Convention on the recognition of study qualifications regarding higher education in the special European Region, followed by, on the same date, an exchange of notes on the recognition of pontifical academic titles in the ecclesiastical disciplines; on 12 July, the agreement on the legal status of the Catholic Church in Burkina Faso; and on 3 September, the framework agreement between the Holy See and the Republic of Angola, which was ratified on the following 22 November. In addition, on 5 March the instrument of ratification of the Framework Agreement between the Holy See and the Central African Republic was consigned; and on 2 July, the Framework Agreement between the Holy See and the Republic of the Congo was ratified. On 13 July, the Holy See adhered to the UNESCO new regional Convention on the Recognition of Studies, Diplomas and Degrees in Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean 2019; and on 15 November it ratified the revised UNESCO regional Convention on the Recognition of Studies, Certificates, Diplomas, and Degrees in Higher Education in the African states. Finally, on 15 January 2019, the Holy See signed, in the name of and on behalf of Vatican City State, the European Council Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons, of 21 March 1983, and the Additional Protocol to the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons, of 18 December 1997. At the same time, the Protocol amending the Additional Protocol to the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons, of 22 November 2017, was ratified.