The contribution examines and reflects on the ultra-territorial jurisdiction of the Vatican judges in criminal matters, introduced by some recent pontifical reforms initially to comply with the commitments undertaken with the Monetary Agreement stipulated with the European Union but then extended to many other crimes when committed by members of the Roman Curia or other institutions connected to the Holy See. The author points out some good reasons inspiring those reforms but also some possible critical issues deriving from the peculiar nature and limits of the Vatican State, from competition with the jurisdiction of the State of the locus commissi delicti, including Italy in the extraterritorial areas envisaged by the Lateran Treaty, from the dualistic principle and from the risks of a growing media exposure of the Holy See as a result of well-known criminal lawsuits that could obscure its own and specific spiritual mission.