Quote Originally Posted by Kraxis
Decidedly not so...

I had 0-1-2 crosses with the Pope before I assassinated him, and I had been down there for ages. Then becasue I had 'pruned' the College of Cardinals I got my man voted in. Bam! Perfect score for me.
I had however voted for others previously and still gotten nowhere.

So it certainly matters who becoems Pope, and not just the votes.
Interesting, I've not found this on medium difficulty, as long as you vote for the Cardinal that becomes Pope its the same. However every time this has happened its been my ally that I voted for too, and I don't have a Cardinal in the Prefiati but do have say 4 or 5 to ensure that the one I vote for is the Pope.

So it could be multiple votes or your relation to the elected Popes faction maybe, ideas?

Money works a treat on the pope tho, 100 florins for 10 turns tends to keep me at perfect and just let other factions excommunicate themselves by attacking you.