Papal States
plural noun
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.
Also called
States of the Church.
Compare
Vatican City.
British Dictionary definitions for papal states
Papal States
pl n
the temporal domain of the popes in central Italy from 756 ad until the unification of Italy in 1870
Also called: States of the Church