How to be forgiven by the pope...

[tarbanrael]

that's quite correct, I have also noticed that as soon as the pope croaks, all excommunicated factions are automatically brought back into the Catholic fold.
Shipping priests over to unbeliever lands is bound not only to get you cardinals once their piety gets hight enough, but also very good standing with the pope.

One thing i noticed with the crusades, whenever i lead a successful ones, is that other factions seemed very jealous and started attacking me shortly after. It happened with a Spanish and a French campaign I had. Or maybe they could not stand the fact that I was best pals with his holy sanctity...

[Hoplite7]

Well, I'm off to assassinate the pope then. My king has full chivalry, command, and half full authority, so I'm not wasting him!

Thanks for advice, especially Forgotmyoldnick