Relationship dossier
Vatican City
Costa Rica
Relationship assessment
A longstanding relationship shaped by a 19th-century church-state agreement
Vatican City toward Costa Rica
+20The Holy See concluded the 1852 Concordat with Costa Rica, establishing a framework for the Catholic Church’s position in the country.
Costa Rica toward Vatican City
+20Costa Rica concluded the 1852 Concordat with the Holy See, setting a framework for the Catholic Church’s position in the country.
Overall relationship
+20The 1852 Concordat is a durable institutional feature of relations, reflecting formal cooperation over the Catholic Church’s position in Costa Rica. The scope of subsequent bilateral cooperation is less clear.
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 Holy See and Costa Rica have a longstanding institutional relationship shaped by the 1852 Concordat, which regulated the Catholic Church’s position in Costa Rica. This provides evidence of concrete bilateral cooperation, though details of later government-to-government cooperation and the concordat’s present scope are unclear.
Key developments
The Holy See and Costa Rica concluded a Concordat regulating the Catholic Church’s position in Costa Rica.
Major uncertainties
- The present scope and implementation of the 1852 Concordat are unclear.
- Details of later bilateral government cooperation are limited.