Thanks for the info - I'm still wondering about the Pope starting mass inquisitions to show his attitude, though.

I was particularly struck by his call for a crusade against the Egyptians on the same turn as the mass inquisition started - I had a crusade prepared and sitting in Navarre. (Historically one of Pope Urban's reasons for calling for the crusade was to stop christian warlords fighting each other, and to unite them against a common foe). From watching this subsequently such calls often seem to coincide with catholic v catholic wars, especially my own. Again, I have the impression that launching a crusade immediately the Pope calls for it curries quite a few Papal brownie points.

I had picked up on the Pope liking conversions, and for this reason will often send bishops out to the pagan steppes in Early and High. Occasionally one of them seems to pick up 3* if he sits for 100 turns and converts the entire population - though I'm unable to reproduce this at will.

I must admit I've never had papal florins 7 turns in a row. That would be handy early in the game. The Pope does seem to give them for a number of reasons, especially early in the game when my faction is small. One reason seems to be simply not fighting other catholics - they florins dry up when I start a war.

So, I was wondering if inquisitions was another reason. The florins didn't come every time an inquisition was successful, but the coincidence was enough to set me wondering.