text: > Yes and no. Popes typically did rule as absolute monarchs.
  
  There may have been some that tried, but they are the exception, not the rule. The office itself is not an absolute monarchy.
  
  > And the word for what you are describing is "oligarchy".
  
  No. I'm not. I'm disproving by example. Not providing a new concept.
  
  If I was to describe the structure of the Church, the nation state of Vatican City is certainly a theocracy. The Catholic Church is not strictly a theocracy, nor is it an oligarchy as no one or group of people in the Church Militant has absolute power over the faith or the faithful. The episcopate are shepherds, not rulers.