Yeah I pulled the old trick of parking my ships next to a fleet owned by His Holiness the Bishop of Rome while at war with Sicily (wanted a bit of goodwill for me a bit of excomm for Sicily doncha know). Well Sicily bit, and I won a crusade to Palermo (of all places to crusade to). I left the Pontifex Maximus to his own devices for a while since my popescale readings were maxxed for a long while afterwards and lo and behold! Sicily had been dominant, owning most of Italy, South-Central Europe and into France-now this is all part of United Papal States of Europe! He's even steamrolling into the Balkans now! LOL