Holy See
The Holy See refers to the episcopal see of Rome, where the Pope offically resides; it can also mean the Pope or the Roman Curia. The term "Holy See" generally refers to the Pope, the Pope's official bureaucracy in the Vatican, Vatican City itself, or all of the above.
One of the more perplexing issues among Roman Catholic NS players is just who is the Pope of the NationStates world. Several players have played the Vatican. Prominent among them is Holy Vatican See (HVS), who RPs an alternate universe in which John Paul II died in 1998, replaced by a Hungarian named Sixtus VI, and then replaced by (that Italian missionary-wannabe guy. Forgot his name.)
While many NS nations accept HVS as the Vatican of the NS world, HVS's player himself has stated several times that no one is required to accept him as such. Nations such as Syskeyia and Cherry Ridge RP with the RL pontiff, John Paul II, as the pope, and Pantocratoria has accepted HVS' "papacy," but is willing to RP with countries that accept JPII.
