Papal States

The Papal States is one of the oldest still existing nations in Europe. It is currently led by Pope Francis, and they control of the Italian peninsula, excluding Sicily (which is under the reign of King Joseph Goebbels)

The Papal States were founded by Pope Stephen II with the help of Pepin the Short of the Frankish Kingdom in 756 AD, granting the Pope the lands of Rome, Ravenna, and the surrounding duchies.

In 1815, the Papal States and the Kingdom of Sicily would clash over Abruzzo and Campania. The war between Pope Pius VII and the aging King Giovanni Meli had lasted roughly 2 years, with both sides losing considerable amounts of men. The war which had been a stalemate for most of its length would be swiftly ended when the Papal States requested aid from the Grand Dutchy of Tuscany, which had sent much needed reinforcements to defeat the Sicilian army. With the Sicilian army defeated, the Papal States was able to establish Ferdinand IV of Naples as the ruler of the newly established Kingdom of Naples, which was granted all the land of the southern Mezzogiorno region.

The Papal States would remain unthreatened until 1915, when the Kingdom of Savoy had launched an offensive against the Italian kingdoms in an attempt to unite Italy under its banner. With its borders being threatened by the Savoyards, the Papal States rallied all kingdoms to defeat the Savoyard threat. 

After the war, Mussolini in his quest to unite Italy had asked the Papal States to join, which the Pope had opposed. In 1921, Pope Benedict XV and Benito Mussolini met in the Vatican to come to the agreements underlined by the Lateran Treaty, which had guaranteed the sovereignty of the Papal States in exchange for religious blessings of the movement and an official non aggression pact. 

In 1961, 3 years after Pope Francis’ election, Mussolini and Pope Francis would come to the agreement of Mussolini abdicating his power and transferring the Kingdom of Italy to the Papal States. In 1962, with small uprisings crushed, the Papal States had fully united Italy under its banner with Pope Francis as its leader.

The Papal States would be just one of Pope Francis’ many nations he led, and had been involved in wars like Vietflabe, Iraqcis, The Second Papal Bosnian War, and the Sicilian Civil War. However, from constant uprisings especially from Vittorio Ambrosio's coup, its political power collapsed. In this chaos, Prince Amedeo of Aosta seized Turin and established the Free State of Turin. This caused a shockwave effect across the Pope’s domains, leading to the fragmentation and dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, and Francis stepping from leadership in Hungary, Spain, and Austria. Today, the Papal States is the only country Pope Francis leads.

On October 21, 2026 the authority of the Papal States would be challenged, as northern Italy under the fascist leader, Achille Starace organized a massive civil war, and established the Italian Social Republic in aims to defeat the Papal States and conquer all of Italy.