Quote Originally Posted by LordK9 View Post
I'm inclined to believe that if you are already at war with the Pope when your King (actually, Emperor in this case) dies that the excommunication carries over as someone before had thought possible.
In my experience, it is not only when you are at war with the Pope. Sometimes my excom is not lifted if my monarch dies no matter what faction I'm at war with. I believe it to be some kind of a bug, as the two laws of excom-lifting are a universal truth for the MTW community. This excom-inheriting happens now and then in my game, though not that often (I would say 10% of cases).