Editing Divine right of kings (section)

===Catholic limits===
Catholic jurisprudence holds that the monarch is always subject to [[Natural law|natural]] and [[divine law]], which are regarded as superior to the monarch.<ref>Until the [[Papal states|unification of Italy]], the [[Bishop of Rome|Holy See]] did, from the time Christianity became the Roman [[Holy Roman Empire|state religion]], assert on that ground its primacy over secular princes; however this exercise of power never, even at its zenith, amounted to [[theocracy]], even in jurisdictions where the Bishop of Rome was the temporal authority.</ref>

The possibility of monarchy declining morally, overturning natural law, and degenerating into a tyranny oppressive of the general welfare was answered theologically with the Catholic concept of the spiritual superiority of the Pope (there is no "Catholic concept of extra-legal [[tyrannicide]]", as some falsely suppose, the same being expressly condemned by St Thomas Aquinas in chapter 7 of his ''De Regno'').

Catholic thought justified limited submission to the monarchy by reference to the following:
# The Old Testament, in which God chose kings to rule over Israel, beginning with [[Saul]] who was then rejected by God in favour of [[David]], whose dynasty continued (at least in the [[Kingdom of Judah|southern kingdom]]) until the [[Babylonian captivity]].
# The New Testament, in which the first pope, [[Saint Peter|Peter]], commands that all Christians shall honour the Roman Emperor,<ref>{{bibleverse|1|Peter|2:13–20|NKJV}}</ref> even though, at that time, he was still a pagan emperor. [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] agreed with Peter that subjects should be obedient to the powers that be because they are appointed by God, as he wrote in his Epistle to the Romans.<ref name="bibleverse||Romans|13:1–7|NKJV">{{bibleverse||Romans|13:1–7|NKJV}}</ref> Likewise, Jesus Christ proclaims in the Gospel of Matthew that one should "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's"; that is at first, literally, the payment of taxes as binding those who use the imperial [[currency]].<ref>See {{bibleverse||Matthew|22:15–22|NKJV}}</ref> Jesus told [[Pontius Pilate]] that his authority as Roman governor of [[Judaea]] came from heaven according to John 19:10–11.{{citation needed|reason=Must show Catholic reading of verse is as asserted|date=March 2022}}
# The endorsement by the popes and the church of the line of emperors beginning with the Emperors [[Constantine I|Constantine]] and [[Theodosius I|Theodosius]], later the Eastern Roman emperors, and finally the Western Roman emperor, [[Charlemagne]] and his successors, the Catholic [[Holy Roman Empire|Holy Roman Emperors]].