Papal States

American  

plural noun

1. the areas comprising a large district in central Italy ruled as a temporal domain by the popes from a.d. 755 until the greater part of it was annexed in 1860, by Victor Emmanuel II: the remaining part, Rome and its environs, was absorbed into the kingdom of Italy in 1870.

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Papal States British  

plural noun

1. Also called: States of the Church.  the temporal domain of the popes in central Italy from 756 _ad until the unification of Italy in 1870

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Example Sentences

The Torlonias, immigrants from France to Napoleon’s Italy, became bankers to the Papal States and the Bonaparte family, acquiring immense wealth, an impressive real-estate portfolio and a string of noble titles.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 25, 2025

"Unlike the Kingdom of Naples, for example, the production of documentation related to earthquakes has certainly been poorer in the Papal States, of which the Marche Region was a part in the 15th century."

From Science Daily • Nov. 1, 2023

The wall’s aim was to limit passage between French territory and the Comtat Venaissin, an enclave controlled by the Papal States.

From New York Times • Feb. 23, 2021

In the same year, Napoleon annexed the Papal States in central Italy, prompting Pope Pius VII to excommunicate him.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2020

The Papal States were full of the exiled French priests.

From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol 1-98, 1850-1899 None by Harper, Various (magazine)