The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 3 letter word HOLY SEE
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
H
O
L
Y
S
E
E
More clues leading to the result HOLY SEE
- Spiritual authority has no solid ground, we hear
- It’s Francis’s responsibility – after half an hour, start to look with fresh eyes
- According to Spooner, only that man Francis lives here
- Francis’s responsibility under discussion — quite understand
- Stop leader abandoning French official residence where Pope holds sway?
- Reportedly liable to leak and spy for state
- Vatican report “entirely groundless”
- Rome presidential palace facade scratched for a laugh
- Matt sadly deserts crumbling stately home – one for a cleric?
- House, lovely exterior, with view that’s a feature of Rome
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "state" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case state = holy see.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.