The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word CURIA
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
C
U
R
I
A
More clues leading to the result CURIA
- Fine provincial force once set up court abroad
- Papal court is somewhat mercurial
- Excellent former force shown up in court
- Some who gather intelligence about ancient city's papal court
- Scoundrel, one brought before a church court
- I see you are pronounced out of order by a court in Rome
- Unusual item’s last to go for a court in the Vatican
- Court in ancient city protected by American agency
- Dog with tail up in the centre of a gathering
- Curtained off, tend to go with church administration
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "papal court" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case papal court = curia.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.