Quote Originally Posted by Vlad Tzepes
Au contraire, mon pote, I've got a very nice going on alliance with the Pope. His Holliness even payed me for it some 2000 FLO. And he wasn't my ex-cardinal, this one came after.
I'm allied to the Papal States as well. It took a while though, even to get trade rights, so much so that I began to wonder if there are two separate diplomatic systems in play: the Pope's approval of your faction on the basis of your actions in your own land (e.g. building cathedrals or trying heretics), and a separate (perhaps related) system which governs direct diplomacy with the Papal States. If this is right, in order to get an alliance (or favourable treaties) with the Papal States, you need to manage them as any other nation, independent of how their faction leader views you at that time. Of course, the Pope may just be picky...