@CtrlAltHistory Nah it's ok. I did not put an upper limit- only thing that has to be pre-1900 is the AHC itself, and it is 1453 and after. No worries.
Maybe after a French Revolution analogue, where the faith is the enemy and they return to Roman "traditions?"
Mussolini goes even more crazy and actually declares Italy as "Rome Restored," even going so far as to re-establish old titles and entities. He manages to weasel his way out of WWII/no Hitler from butterflies, and he manages to see his Rome grow a bit in Africa before he dies and passes on his "republic" to an "adopted son," seeing himself as the second coming of Caesar.
This individual is like Himmler and has an obsession with old paganism, but this time Roman rather than Germanic. His cronies soon become invested in it to gain good graces with him and there are rumors the Imperator has converted officially. By his death, the "Senate" is almost totally "pagan."
Italy is a pariah state by this point and becomes almost like a more developed N. Korea with its propaganda levels (after losing Africa of course.) After a few Imperators, eventually one converts officially to the growing State Religion of Glorious Rome and a small percentage of the populace do as well to gain favor in government positions. Internal and international Catholic outrage begins and this is the first step in Rome's collapse, but you have your scenario completed.
Wait, this is pre-1900. Crap.
Jesus, dude. You're turning into a low-level B-29_Bomber (jk).
Very hard anyway. Mussolini personally did not care for the Church at all, but he was willing to go out of his way to reach a compromise with the Holy See for political reasons, and proved good at it to be fair. After that, Catholicism was regarded as integral to the Fascist notion of Italian identity (even if Fascism clashed fundamentally with the most basic tenets of Christian ethics).Mussolini goes even more crazy and actually declares Italy as "Rome Restored," even going so far as to re-establish old titles and entities. He manages to weasel his way out of WWII/no Hitler from butterflies, and he manages to see his Rome grow a bit in Africa before he dies and passes on his "republic" to an "adopted son," seeing himself as the second coming of Caesar.
This individual is like Himmler and has an obsession with old paganism, but this time Roman rather than Germanic. His cronies soon become invested in it to gain good graces with him and there are rumors the Imperator has converted officially. By his death, the "Senate" is almost totally "pagan."
Italy is a pariah state by this point and becomes almost like a more developed N. Korea with its propaganda levels (after losing Africa of course.) After a few Imperators, eventually one converts officially to the growing State Religion of Glorious Rome and a small percentage of the populace do as well to gain favor in government positions. Internal and international Catholic outrage begins and this is the first step in Rome's collapse, but you have your scenario completed.
Wait, this is pre-1900. Crap.