Hace 1 día · t. e. The Papal States ( / ˈpeɪpəl / PAY-pəl; Italian: Stato Pontificio; Latin: Dicio Pontificia ), officially the State of the Church (Italian: Stato della Chiesa [ˈstaːto della ˈkjɛːza]; Latin: Status Ecclesiasticus ), [7] were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 until ...