Catholic Theocracy: Difference between revisions

After the fall of the Roman Empire, most of the Germanic tribes that previously practiced Arian Christianity adopted CatholicismChalcedonian Christianity in order to ally themselves with the religious figures of the regions they were invading, leading to most of the former Western Roman Empire remainingbecoming a Catholic theocracy loyal to the Vicar of Christ in Rome, while the Eastern Roman Empire evolved into an [[File:Orth.png]] [[Orthodox Theocracy]] loyal to the Emperor of Byzantium after the schism of 1054 permanently split European Christianity.

The Catholic Church maintained various degrees of control across Western Europe throughout the Middle Ages. Perhaps the place where this rule was most dominant was in the [[File:Cball-PapalStates.png]] [[Feudalism|Papal States]] - a territory in central Italy under the direct rule of the Papacy. In other parts of Catholic Europe, the control of the church varied depending on both place and time. On one hand, the church maintained a great deal of sway over secular rulers, and Catholicism was the official state religion of most Western European states until the Protestant Reformation, with the church able to enforce her own laws in [[File:Krit.png]] [[Kritarchy|Ecclesiastical courts]] alongside state courts (such as in the [[File:Inquisition.png]] Inquisition). On the other hand, the church often found itself in conflict with the various monarchies of Europe, most notably in the [[File:Klep.png]] [[Kleptocracy|Investiture Controversy]] with the [[File:Cball-HRE.png]] [[Elective Monarchism|Holy Roman Emperors]] and the [[w:Avignon_Papacy|'Babylonian Captivity']] in France. The Papal States aside, assorted territories scattered across Europe were under the rule of [[w:Prince-bishop|prince-bishops]], mostly located in the German territories. They were dissolved after being defeated in the Napoleonic Wars, with the German Confederation that replaced the HRE consisting of secular city-states and hereditary monarchies, leaving the Papal States the only full Catholic Theocracy in Europe. The Ecclesiastical courts were eventually dissolved outside of the Papal States due to the secularization of law in Europe, with canonical law being phased out in favor of secular civil law.

The Papal states were dissolved in 1870 at the end of the Risorgimento after Rome was captured by [[File:Cball-King-Italy.png]] Sardinian forces and Italy was unified, with the Pope being considered a "Prisoner in the Vatican" until the creation of the Vatican City in 1929 iby the Lateran Treaty with [[File:Fash.png]] the fascist government. Vatican City controls less than a square kilometer of land. Despite the small size of the only remaining catholic theocracy, Catholicism still has a lot of power due to having more than 1 billion followers. Andorra is a partial example of a modern Catholic theocracy, with the Bishop of Urgell being its co-leader along with the French head of state (exact position depends on the time period).