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Originally Posted by rubecube
I think I missed that you were explicitly referring to England. I was more referring to the various power-struggles in renaissance-era Italy. For instance, they had the Paple States, as well as their attempts to get into bed with various factions and families, including the French and the Spanish at times. I'm likely getting some of these mixed up, since it's been about a year and half since I did any reading on it. I've pimped this book a few times before, but "The Myth of Religious Violence" by William Cavanaugh actually does a pretty good job of breaking down a lot of the early European conflicts.
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I'm no expert, but I've done a fair bit of reading on the subject. I would say that yes the Vatican/Papal states were a political entity to varying degrees for a long time. The Pope was essentially the king of the papal states, and they participated in world politics; they had to.
They were nowhere near as powerful as some think, but they did participate. Kings & princes cared more about territory, wealth, title, etc than what "God" aka the Pope thought of them.
Many princes and emperors over the years tried influencing the pope and likewise the pope influenced or tried to influence the politics of the day.
Even the modern church (say, post 1871) participated in politics heavily, and even to this day they participate, although to a lesser degree.