Quote Originally Posted by Caravel
Killing the pope, either in battle or by assassination, doesn't end your excommunication IIRC, because I remember seeing off 4 popes in a row once, with a high valour assassin. As soon as the new pope was in office he called for a crusade against my faction and my excommunicated state continued.
That sounds like some kind of aberration in your game, Caravel, as either death of the Pope (by any means) or death of your faction's ruler have long been held axiomatic as ending excommunication. Maybe you had some corrupted data during your campaign?