priestcraft Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a derogatory reference to priests who use their influence to control secular or political affairs
  2. noun the skills involved in the work of a priest

WordNet

Priest"craft` noun
Definitions
  1. Priestly policy; the policy of a priesthood; esp., in an ill sense, fraud or imposition in religious concerns; management by priests to gain wealth and power by working upon the religious motives or credulity of others.
    It is better that men should be governed by priestcraft than by violence. Macaulay.

Webster 1913