Ultramontain

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Definitions

1. Relating to Catholics who champion the pope's supreme authority in church affairs ; located on the far side of a mountain range, especially the Alps as seen from Italy
2. Describing a party or outlook that upholds the absolute power of the papacy ; lying across a mountain chain, particularly the Alps viewed from the south
3. Favoring the pope's complete authority over the Church ; situated on the other side of the mountains, most often the Alps from an Italian perspective

Etymology: Ultramontane comes from Medieval Latin "ultramontanus," meaning "beyond the mountains," so the original viewpoint was that of someone looking across the Alps toward Rome. For a long time it described the perspective of a Frenchman, German or Englishman, for whom the papal court lay on the far side of those mountains. Its political meaning developed in the Middle Ages: a person who was ultramontane was one who looked to the pope beyond the Alps for authority, rather than to local or national rulers. The word entered English in the 1500s, and its sense sharpened in the 19th century, when it came to name the movement that wanted the papacy's authority over the Church and its doctrine to be absolute. The adjective and noun are used for that position today, and in the 1860s it was a live term in debates over papal infallibility at the First Vatican Council.