Why are the Papal States called Papal States?

Answer 1

The Papal States were also sometimes called the States of the Church, the Ecclesiastical States, or the Pontifical States, and they existed from roughly the sixth century to 1861 or 1870. In that long, long era, there was no central, unified Italian nation or government. Instead, the Italian peninsula was a collection of two dozen (more or less) politically independent "city-states" as they were called. They were mini-independent nations the size of a city, or a little larger.

Although the extent of the Papal State varied over their 1200 plus years, usually they were the largest of the Italian city-states at any given time. They comprised a swath of territory that went from sea to sea across the peninsula, from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Adriatic Sea. The Papal States always included Rome, and at one time or another included many other Italian cities -- such as Pisa, Aosta, Bologna and others.

Actually, "Papal States" is a reasonably descriptive name. "Papal" is the adjectival form for "Pope". "State" means "a sovereign polity or government; a nation and its government." States is plural because the Papal States never were a particularly unified government, instead, governors of one sort or another were sent out from Rome to each of the outlying districts

Do not underestimate the importance of a descriptive name, especially to a modern historian. When the Papal States existed, Venice described itself as "The Most Serene Republic", and the small kingdom the comprised Naples, Calabria and Sicily was called "The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies."

Figure that one out for yourself. I've tried and tried, but I never could count more than one Sicily.