papal states

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.

pl n

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