My Very Own Pope... What's the point?

Like many players here, I normally send my gangs of priests to tour North Africa, Russia, or the holy lands. But recently I've been thinking: What's the point? Your own pope will be more favorable to your faction, which is apparent when he's first elected--but how much difference does it make throughout the rest of his papacy? Chances are, you're constantly feeding him money anyway and I have yet to drop below "outstanding" relationship whether he's my pope or not (unless I wanted it to drop). Having the whole college of cardinals with your flag next to it looks cool, but what's the point if having your own pope isn't your ambition? Sure, having your pope elected adds points to Theologian's Guild line, but it's nothing much for an event that happens every 20-30 years.

Of course, it doesn't cost anything to send priests on a tour. But it adds to micromanagement with dismal return. If you played really lazy and kept pumping out priests from one city (with an eventual Cathedral) without moving them at all, you'll have your Theologians HQ and the whole college of cardinals by around turn 100 anyway(depending on how fast you expand of course). So what's the point in diverting your attention to priests?

Its something to do in between the wars? :P
Anyway, dont you WANT to convert those poor backwards heathens? Silly, you just arent a very good Catholic.

well, witch/heretic hunting is kinda fun. Then there's the obvious keeping religious unrest down and converting population to cath. I don't find pay much attention to priests unless one goes heretic.

To be honest I don't send my priests on your... The only exception would be a prelude to a Crusade...

I will use them in neighbouring provinces that are not Catholic but I do not send the around the world just for the fun of it...

Well, depending on where you want to expand to, priests are mighty useful for reducing the religious unrest in your future provinces. In addition, they can be used offensively to increase religious unrest in your non-catholic neighbors, making it that much easier to cause them to rebel.

I suppose it really depends on your style of play, and whether you care to deal with them.