"States of the Church" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "the States of the Church",
      "tags": [
        "canonical",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "State of the Church",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "p",
        "def": "1",
        "head": "States of the Church",
        "sg": "State of the Church"
      },
      "expansion": "the States of the Church pl (normally plural, singular State of the Church)",
      "name": "en-proper noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "name",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English pluralia tantum",
          "parents": [
            "Pluralia tantum",
            "Nouns",
            "Lemmas"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1832 July, “Political Condition of the Italian States”, in The Edinburgh Review, or Critical Journal, volume 55, number 110, page 381:",
          "text": "It may be necessary to enquire into the origin and progress of the temporal authority of the Court of Rome—the means by which the aggrandizement of the States of the Church has been at different periods effected—and the only possible object with which a European congress can have replaced them under an antiquated subjection.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1918, Williston Walker, A History of the Christian Church, 1st edition, page 671:",
          "text": "On September 20, 1870, Victor Emmanuel captured Rome, and the inhabitants of the district voted one hundred and thirty-three thousand to one thousand five hundred for annexation to Italy. […] Thus came to an end the States of the Church, the oldest continuous secular sovereignty then existing in Europe.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The Papal States."
      ],
      "id": "en-States_of_the_Church-en-name-YIaiWjME",
      "links": [
        [
          "Papal States",
          "Papal States"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(dated, historical) The Papal States."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated",
        "historical",
        "plural-normally"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "States of the Church"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "the States of the Church",
      "tags": [
        "canonical",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "State of the Church",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "p",
        "def": "1",
        "head": "States of the Church",
        "sg": "State of the Church"
      },
      "expansion": "the States of the Church pl (normally plural, singular State of the Church)",
      "name": "en-proper noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "name",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English dated terms",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English pluralia tantum",
        "English proper nouns",
        "English terms with historical senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1832 July, “Political Condition of the Italian States”, in The Edinburgh Review, or Critical Journal, volume 55, number 110, page 381:",
          "text": "It may be necessary to enquire into the origin and progress of the temporal authority of the Court of Rome—the means by which the aggrandizement of the States of the Church has been at different periods effected—and the only possible object with which a European congress can have replaced them under an antiquated subjection.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1918, Williston Walker, A History of the Christian Church, 1st edition, page 671:",
          "text": "On September 20, 1870, Victor Emmanuel captured Rome, and the inhabitants of the district voted one hundred and thirty-three thousand to one thousand five hundred for annexation to Italy. […] Thus came to an end the States of the Church, the oldest continuous secular sovereignty then existing in Europe.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The Papal States."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Papal States",
          "Papal States"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(dated, historical) The Papal States."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated",
        "historical",
        "plural-normally"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "States of the Church"
}