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According to the Laws of the Game the goalkeeper has only two special rights.
1. He may play the ball with his hands inside his own penalty area.
2. He may NOT be charged by an opponent while he has possession of the ball.
Otherwise, by the book, he has no more and no less protection than any other player on the field.
That being said, most referees recognize that the goalkeeper is a unique position with a specialized skill set and that a team rarely has more than one player who can handle this job well. Therefore, referees tend to baby the goalkeepers somewhat by discouraging opponents from creating contact situations with them. There are many different techniques that individual referees use to accomplish this. You won't even be able to tell that the better ones are doing it.
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