And to make things more impressive, this regime is still around even after the Metropole fell.
An Examination of Extra-Universal Systems of Government
- Thread starter Ephraim Ben Raphael
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What's the extent of the Company in Asia and the Americas?
Well, the Company's assets in Asia consist of most of Southern India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand (irony is strong isn't it), and the Western half of Cambodia. Their assets in the Americas consist roughly of OTL Argentina and Uruguay along with most of the Caribbean and the Southern US IOTL.
The company also controls Australia and New Zealand along with most of Oceania IOTL.
The State of the Church
Because of the sheer difficulty, I normally avoid getting an audience with the leader of a country. Such figures are often extremely busy, guarded if not paranoid about the company they keep and to whom they speak, and have subordinates I can speak to. In this particular case, if I wanted to speak to a citizen, I had no choice but to speak to the leader. Fortunately, His Holiness was a friendly man, and was more than happy to grant me an audience.
After a drive from the international aerodrome in Rome, I was in St. Peter’s Square. I have been to many Romes, and St. Peter’s Basilica looks the same in all that I have personally visited. It was here that Pope John XXIV chose to meet me. St. Peter’s Basilica was the second largest church on Earth, second only to a Baptist megacomplex in Atlanta. Although the building had no religious significance to me personally, it was impossible not to be awed by the majesty of the church. If God existed, He could find a worse place to call home on Earth.
I was quickly moved through the building by the Swiss Guard, managing to move past the crowds of tourists in doing so. It was strange to consider the throngs of tourists that were allowed in the Church, but I recalled that St. Peter’s Basilica was the property of the cash-strapped Roman government, and they wanted as much tourist revenue as possible.
I was taken through the restricted areas by the Swiss Guard. They had to speak to their Roman police counterparts to have official permission to enter; the Swiss Guards were servants of the Church, not the Roman government, and these formalities were just another part of that complex arrangement. Before I knew it, I had an audience with the most powerful man in Roman Catholicism.
John XXIV is an old man, and like his counterparts in history and in parallel timelines, wore his distinctive papal garb. However, his body language suggested that he would rather be wearing more comfortable clothing. He walked towards me and gave me a handshake.
“I am glad you made it, Mr. Chana,” he told me in a thick Brooklyn accent – John XXIV is the first American pope in this world. “I am happy to answer any questions you have, spiritual or otherwise.”
I politely declined spiritual guidance, explaining that I was not Catholic. John XXIV feigned disappointment.
“Eh, nobody’s perfect.” He then offered me a seat: an ornate chair dating to the 18th century. After taking a seat, I asked him the most pressing question on my mind: how does it feel to be the only citizen of his country?
“Well, I don’t have to worry about parking tickets unless I write them to myself, so that’s a plus.” I noted that the Pope, as a foreign leader and dignitary, does enjoy diplomatic immunity.
“The downside is, my advisors tell me that it’s too dangerous for me to drive. My drivers aren’t sovereign, so they are subject to all Roman laws.
Although the Roman Catholic Church traces its origins to the first century, it did not become a sovereign political entity until the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Commonly known as the Papal States, the Church ruled over a chunk of central Italy which shifted in size and power over the centuries.
I asked John XXIV if he ever felt imprisoned in the Vatican. He shook his head.
“It isn’t as lonely as you’d think. I still live in a city of over three million people. I am still the leader of a church of over a billion. I travel all over the world. I don’t have to worry about some of the same problems that most world leaders do, such as national defense, but on the other hand, I still lead the largest church in the world.”
The era of papal sovereignty ended with the Napoleonic Wars. As a general, Emperor Napoleon I of the French led French forces into northern Italy, where the revolutionary government of France was engaged in heavy warfare against the Austrians and their Piedmontese allies. Napoleon’s rousing success led to the abolition of the northernmost Italian kingdoms and the establishment of the Cisalpine Republic. Napoleon was then ordered to invade the Papal States, whereupon he defeated Papal forces and integrated the northernmost provinces of the Papal States into the Cisalpine Republic.
After Napoleon I crowned himself Emperor, the Austrians invaded the Cisalpine Republic, joined by the Papal States. The French response was swift and brutal, and led to the establishment of three French client states in the Italian peninsula – the Cisalpine Republic in the north, the Kingdom of Rome in central Italy, and the Kingdom of Naples. The Kingdom of Rome was placed under the rule of Napoleon’s brother, Jerome. This arrangement was secured after the destruction of the British fleet outside Cadiz, prompting the Peace of Vienna and the end of war in Europe for the next century.
For over a century, the popes refused to recognize the Peace of Vienna. In response, the Roman government kept the popes under de facto house arrest. The arrangement ended when Napoleon IV, seeking assistance against his British and Russian adversaries in the Great War, asked Pope Pius X to put the moral weight of the Catholic Church behind the French war effort. Pius X used the opportunity to gain sovereignty for the papacy, but failed to gain any territory from the Romans. The Pope, as a person, would be sovereign over himself, but nothing else.
“In a way, I am the perfect dictator,” John XXIV mused. “I have near-total control of my citizens.”
That comment raised an eyebrow. Near-perfect?
“Sometimes, I nod off when I don’t mean to, and let’s not talk about when I have too many baked beans.” The pope laughed, impressed by his joke.
“In all seriousness, I do have a responsibility to the Church and all Catholics around the world. I may not have sovereign power over the Catholic world, but I have a large degree of power over them. In many ways, I lead more people than the Chinese President.”
I asked the Pope how succession in his “country” operates.
“It is very simple: the Pope is a sovereign state in body, so long as he is in the papal office. When we die, or resign, as Urban IX did, we no longer have sovereignty. If I resigned, I would become an American citizen again. Papal sovereignty then passes to my successor. As for papal succession itself, it works the same as it always has: election by papal conclave.”
What did he mean by “sovereign state in body”?
“I mean that my body is, for all intents and purposes, treated like a sovereign state, as long as I am the pope. This is a big part of my diplomatic immunity: technically, arresting me is an invasion of a sovereign state.”
John XXIV put up his fists, as if he were boxing.
“If they do, they’ll be fighting the finest army in the world!” The old man laughed again.
“But really, there are a ton of countries out there who are itching to use ‘aggressive war’ as a pretext to act against their enemies. So, nobody dares to touch me.”
Finally, I asked John XXIV if he was ever worried about his sovereignty being withdrawn. After all, his predecessors thought it important.
“I’m of a different mind on that issue. Keep in mind, Mr. Chana, when the Church began, we were actively persecuted by the Roman government. Yet the light of Christ and His church shone on. Nowadays, all the Romans do is mildly inconvenience me. I have nothing to worry about.”
So, what is the state of ownership of the Papal properties like the churches, monasteries and everything it contains given that the Pope's sovereignity is as far as the tip of his skin?
When I saw the Church as one of the states in the table of contents way back on page 30(which I most certainly do-not revisit on a bi-monthly basis in order to re-read my favorites) I was excited to see a theocracy that wouldn't just be a democracy with theocratic overtones(yes, Tibet counts as that-its not staying the way it is for much longer, if what the Dalai Lama said was true). I had all sorts of ideas as to how it would go; it is safe to say that this was nowhere near one of them. I know this thread has taken the concepts of states and governments and done all sorts of things to them, but this is something else even by those standards. I can only imagine what's in store next.
As the guy who wrote the Tibet entry, it's intended to be a reverse North Korea. It's a chest-beatingly nationalistic de facto theocracy with a democratic government on paper that survives mostly on foreign aid and a few domestic products, only the theocrat is pushing towards democracy and away from his own power, and it's broadly moved towards greater freedom for its citizens instead of becoming an insane totalitarian regime.
When the alt-14th Dalai Lama dies, it'll go one of two ways; the next Dalai Lama will continue moves to reduce his own role and importance in the state (though abandoning soft power like that is mostly just a waiting game), or he'll be an asshole and the Panchen Lama will have him isolated and managed so he can't do too much damage, which will cause social instability but nobody wants an insane cult attacking the Chinas or something crazy like that.
Thanks!
The Church is treated like a religious or private entity, like any other religious organization depending on the country. A notable exception is former Church holdings in Rome itself, which is owned by the Bonapartist Roman state.
I have a few ideas up my sleeve.
The Great Schism of 1054 was fixed with the power of FlexTape™.
I never saw it like that, but now that you've spelled it out that makes perfect sense. I think my comment about doing all kinds of things to concepts of states and governance now has even more meaning. Out of curiosity, do you have any plans for more entries?
Been working on a thing for a Pakistan that's had its government replaced by a health-care ministry, off and on, but I've been stuck on it for a while.
Nice one, rvbomally! This Pope has what all those crazy "sovereign citizens" only aspire to have - a country all to himself! I love how you have a picture of the Pope in place of a map.
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