I use 100fl x100 turns and status with Pope on very hard is still always perfect or close to it, effectively negating him.

In fact I think it is so much a must do that it should be made much harder to curry favour with by gifts. I would suggest say 1000 florins needed or tied to the number of settlements/overall gross income.

Any strategy which becomes a must do, IMHO should be fixed if possible so it becomes a real strategy question again.