Relationship dossier
Vatican City
Andorra
Relationship assessment
Andorra’s co-principality links its constitutional institutions with the Catholic Church
Vatican City toward Andorra
+15The Pope appoints the Bishop of Urgell, who serves as one of Andorra’s co-princes. This gives the Holy See a concrete role in an institution central to Andorra’s constitutional order.
Andorra toward Vatican City
+15Andorra’s constitutional order retains the Bishop of Urgell as one of its co-princes, maintaining an institutional role for the Catholic Church in the principality.
Overall relationship
+20The enduring feature of the relationship is Andorra’s co-principality, which connects its constitutional institutions to the Catholic Church through the Bishop of Urgell. This provides a basis for institutional cooperation; the breadth of other bilateral government cooperation is unclear.
How to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
The relationship is shaped by Andorra’s constitutional co-principality, in which the Bishop of Urgell is one of the two heads of state. The Pope appoints the bishop, linking the Holy See’s ecclesiastical authority to Andorra’s constitutional institutions. The arrangement reflects sustained institutional cooperation, though the scope of other direct government-to-government cooperation is unclear.
Key developments
Andorra’s constitutional co-principality retained the Bishop of Urgell as one of the country’s two heads of state.
Major uncertainties
- The scope of direct bilateral government cooperation beyond the co-principality arrangement is unclear.