confessional state

plural confessional states

1. governmentA state (political entity) that officially recognises and practices a particular religion, usually accompanied by a public cult.

   State religion (also established religion, official religion, state denomination) the religion or religious denomination that a confessional state officially espouses and promotes to its citizens or the instance of a country espousing such; […]

   2021 July 16, Cometan, The Institutional Dictionary of Freedom of Religion or Belief, Astral Publishing, →ISBN, retrieved 07 Apr 2026, page 167

   1 more example

   The popes actually do not use the phrase confessional state, but rather they refer to the Catholic state. […] That document, a 1929 chirograph by Pius XI, describes the Catholic state as one that accords with Catholic doctrine and practice, not only in the order of practical action but in the order of ideas and doctrines as well.

   2023 October 24, R. Michael Dunnigan, Religious Liberty and the Hermeneutic of Continuity: Conservation and Development of Doctrine at Vatican II, Emmaus Academic, →ISBN, retrieved 07 Apr 2026, page 91