Editing Head of state (section)

==Religious heads of state==
[[File:Pope Francis in March 2013.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Pope Francis|Francis]], from March 2013 until his death in 2025, was the [[List of sovereigns of Vatican City State|sovereign of the Vatican City State]], an ''ex officio'' role of the [[Pope]]]]

Since [[ancient history|antiquity]], various [[dynasty|dynasties]] or individual rulers have claimed the right to rule by divine authority, such as the [[Mandate of Heaven]] and the [[divine right of kings]]. Some monarchs even claimed divine ancestry, such as Egyptian [[pharaoh]]s and [[Sapa Inca]]s, who claimed descent from their respective sun gods and often sought to maintain this bloodline by practising [[incest|incestuous marriage]]. In [[Ancient Rome]], during the [[Principate]], the title {{lang|la|divus}} ('divine') was conferred (notably posthumously) on the [[Roman emperor|emperor]], a symbolic, [[Legitimacy (family law)|legitimating]] element in establishing a [[de facto]] dynasty.

===Christianity===
In [[Roman Catholicism]], the [[pope]] was once sovereign pontiff and head of state, first, of the politically important [[Papal States]]. After [[Italian unification]], the pope remains head of state of [[Vatican City]]. Furthermore, the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Urgell|bishop of Urgell]] is ''[[ex officio]]'' one of the two [[Co-Princes of Andorra|co-princes of Andorra]]. In the [[Church of England]], the reigning monarch holds the title [[Fidei defensor#English usage|Defender of the Faith]] and acts as supreme governor of the Church of England, although this is purely a symbolic role.

===Islam===
[[File:Portrait Caliph Abdulmecid II.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Abdulmecid II]] was the [[List of Caliphs|150th]] and last [[Caliph of Islam]] from the [[Ottoman dynasty]]]]

During the [[History of Islam|early period of Islam]], [[caliph]]s were spiritual and temporal absolute successors of [[Muhammad]]. Various political Muslim leaders since have styled themselves ''Caliph'' and served as dynastic heads of state, sometimes in addition to another title, such as the [[Ottoman Sultan]]. Historically, some [[Theocracy|theocratic]] Islamic states known as ''[[imamates]]'' have been led by [[imam]]s as head of state, such as in what is now [[Oman]], [[Yemen]], and [[Saudi Arabia]].

In the [[Islamic Republic of Iran]], the [[Supreme Leader of Iran|Supreme Leader]], at present [[Ali Khamenei]], serves as [[List of heads of state of Iran|head of state]]. The [[Aga Khan]]s, a unique dynasty of temporal/religious leadership, leading the [[Nizari]] offshoot of [[Shia Islam]] in Central and South Asia, once ranking among British India's [[princely state]]s, continue to the present day.

===Hinduism===
In [[Hinduism]], certain dynasties adopted a title expressing their positions as "servant" of a patron deity of the state, but in the sense of a [[viceroy]] under an absentee [[god-king]], ruling "in the name of" the patron god(ess), such as [[Padmanabha Dasa]] (servant of Vishnu) in the case of the [[Maharaja]] of [[Travancore]].

===Buddhism===
From the time of the [[5th Dalai Lama]] until the political retirement of the [[14th Dalai Lama]] in 2011, Dalai Lamas were both political and spiritual leaders ("god-king") of [[Tibet]].

[[Outer Mongolia]], the former homeland of the imperial dynasty of [[Genghis Khan]], was another [[Tibetan Buddhist|lamaist]] theocracy from 1585, using various styles, such as [[tulku]]. The establishment of the [[Communism|Communist]] [[Mongolian People's Republic]] replaced this [[regime]] in 1924.