Arquivos Romanos: Diplomacia Vaticana e Direitos Humanos

In mid-1527, Pope Clement VII established an Apostolic Nunciature at the court of D. Joao III. Although the Holy See had had diplomatic representation in Lisbon since the 15th century, historiography has indicated the second half of the 16th century as the most likely period for the beginning of the Apostolic Nunciature's activity: coinciding with the appointment of D. Martinho de Portugal as papal ambassador, to whom Rome granted powers of legate a latere in the kingdoms and domains of the Portuguese crown. Suppressed in the context of the Iberian Union (1580-1670) and interrupted four times between 1728 and 1918, the history of diplomatic relations between Lisbon and Rome over the last 500 years is symptomatic of events in Portugal, becoming a barometer for assessing their external repercussions.