Any Catholic playthrough of Crusader Kings 3 teaches you that staying in the Pope’s good graces can be quite lucrative. Not only does that ensure access to a great source of gold, but it can also open an avenue to being granted claims on your less pious rivals’ titles.
But as much as he is a messenger of God and mainly preoccupied with spiritual matters, some players have learned that the Pope still keeps an eye on worldly things and can grant himself claims on their titles.
Several players have encountered Popes that did so during their playthroughs, having to all of a sudden contend with a powerful new rival.
This is perfectly fine from a mechanical standpoint – if other Catholics can do it, why not the faith’s head honcho – and justified through period-appropriate reasons such as lacking piety or being a woman.
But while it’s not a game-breaking bug, there’s something inherently funny about how – within the game’s boundaries – there’s an implication that the Pope asks the Pope (i.e. himself) whether or not he should grant himself a claim on someone else’s title.
Unfortunately, being a map-based grand strategy game renders CK3 unable to depict the arduous internal debate that must take place before the Pope decides that, yes, doing so very much is a good idea.
Reddit user Dangerous-Flamingo46 found themselves in such a situation when trying to restore the glory of the Roman Empire. User lightcake66 also saw the Pope thirsting for the Empire of France.
The messages players receive when this happens are the cherry on top. One of them informs the unlucky ruler that “I (Pope Clemens) have granted Pope Clemens of the Papacy a claim on the Empire of France, at his request,” being signed, of course, by Pope Clemens of the Papacy.
The replies from Crusader Kings 3’s Reddit community range from not-so-subtle suggestions to murder the Pope to jokes about the Holy Roman Empire, but also prompted user br54jr to share a personal anecdote:
“One of my recent runs I was at the end of the game, 1400ish, but the pope just HAD to get greedy and gave himself a claim to the HRE,” they wrote.
“This started a 20 year long split between Crown loyalists and Papal loyalists in the empire that kicked off cause I kept imprisoning and executing Popes that gave themselves claims on the HRE, I killed like 9 Popes in 5 years. By the end of it I gave up trying to get the Pope to f*** off and I had collected so much tyranny the new Pope was giving out claims to my titles to LITERALLY any catholic who asked, including himself.”
If this proves anything, it’s that dealing with the Pope in Crusader Kings 3 can be a bit of a hassle. If you’re having trouble with your head of faith, these console commands will very likely prove helpful. Or, if you’re for a surefire solution, why not try one of the game’s total conversion mods?
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