Largest Plausible Papal States by 1899

[Prince Charon]

With a PoD after 1795, how large could the Papal States plausibly be, by 1899?

You can choose the PoD. Two that occurred to me are Napoleon dying in the War of the First Coalition, or Victor Emmanuel II being stillborn.

 

[Delvestius]

I suppose good place to start would be Napoleon ceding land to the Papal States after his Concordant of 1801, maybe returning it to the size of it's renaissance existence.

 

[Pwn0r]

has it to be a great nation that is called papal states or would be an unified italy ruled by the pope be also okay?

 

[LordKalvan]

Maybe if there is no French revolution, or the revolutionaries are defeated by the first coalition.
After the revolution and the napoleonic era it is just a matter of time.
Not that it would have made any good to the papacy (and the catholic church in general) if the papal states had continued to the end of 19th century, propped up by the bayonets of France or Austria.

 

[MerryPrankster]

has it to be a great nation that is called papal states or would be an unified italy ruled by the pope be also okay?

I was thinking of that too, but that might require a much earlier POD.

 

[SavoyTruffle]

Maybe if there is no French revolution, or the revolutionaries are defeated by the first coalition.
After the revolution and the napoleonic era it is just a matter of time.
Not that it would have made any good to the papacy (and the catholic church in general) if the papal states had continued to the end of 19th century, propped up by the bayonets of France or Austria.

Pretty much. The French Revolution set off popular nationalism as quick as wildfire - with the people who share an ethno-linguistic background deciding their fate, as opposed to that of the ruling classes. Thus, Italy being a geographical expression would be ended by people who had a stake in seeing it united - and the Pope, as head of the Roman Catholic Church, would find setting up a nation-state rather contrary to his politico-theological aims.

 

[Prince Charon]

has it to be a great nation that is called papal states or would be an unified italy ruled by the pope be also okay?

It should preferably be a country with a government similar to the OTL Papal States (and with the Pope being selected in something close to the way he was in the OTL 19th century), even if the polity is called something like 'The Most Holy Papinate of Italia'.