The Queen and the Pope on the Plane

[HarryStotle]

I was speaking tongue-in-cheek, yes. Republics lack the Biblical symbolism of a monarchy, hence my use of the term “vulgar”. I’m partial to constitutional monarchy.

It isn’t clear what “Biblical symbolism” regarding monarchy you are referring to.

The consistent admonitions by God in the Bible were against having a king.

1 Samuel 8:10-22 English Standard Version (ESV)​

Samuel’s Warning Against Kings​

10 So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. 11 He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. 12 And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. 15 He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. 16 **He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18 And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

The kings of Israel and Judah were predominantly bad.

The only king prescribed by God was God himself.

the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.

 

[twf]

You’re ignoring the anointing of David as king and the important role David fulfills as a type of Christ the King. Positive kingly imagery can be found throughout Scripture. I think you know that. The Church has traditionally favored monarchies.
In the Eastern Churches, the anointing of a monarch was often seen as a sacrament in its own right. The Church and monarchies were intimately entwined for most of Church history.

 

[HarryStotle]

You’re ignoring the anointing of David as king and the important role David fulfills as a type of Christ the King. Positive kingly imagery can be found throughout Scripture. I think you know that. The Church has traditionally favored monarchies.
In the Eastern Churches, the anointing of a monarch was often seen as a sacrament in its own right. The Church and monarchies were intimately entwined for most of Church history.

And the lesson of Solomon is that even the wisest human being, given kingly power, would become corrupted by it.

The role of David (as king) was to reinstate God as the true King through the lineage of David. David understood this, which is why he was “close to God’s heart,” i.e., trusted to know his true role despite his faults.

the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.

The point of the Church, the fifth Kingdom in Daniel’s prophecy, is that kingship belongs to God alone, and the human representative (the Pontifex or Pope) is a chief steward (Al-Habayit) of the household, i.e., a servant of the servants.

 

[twf]

You’re not wrong…those lessons are there. Yet monarchy was traditionally supported by the Church…and Scripture is clear that once anointed a monarch, God respects that office (remember David wouldn’t dare physically harm Saul, out of respect for the office as the Lord’s anointed, even when his own life was in danger).
That said, if anything, your arguments, and the verses you’ve cited thus far, promote a sort of theocracy. The reign of the judges, before the kings, was seen as ideal…with God as king and the judge his representative on earth.
For what its worth, I support constitutional monarchies with democratic parliaments…but I won’t pretend democracy has a basis in Scripture nor Church tradition.