Clerical vs. Secular : are you an ecclesiastical or lay ruler?
Main Power vs. Secondary Powers : do you follow the Christian faith that currently holds the most counties in the world?
Ecumenical vs. Heretic : does your faith carry the ecumenical Christian doctrine, or are you a heretic?
Instability. Rulers are easier to sway to rites, excommunications fly, and gold has a way of leaving the treasury.
Crisis. The Church at its most scorched. Indulgences are cheaper, Ecumenical Councils more frequent, taxes suffer and (depending on the phase) even clergy may be able to marry.
Zeal. Mass conversion, cheaper bulls (more on that later), holy wars, and easier faith conversion.
Stability. Grand Cathedrals rise faster, characters take vows more readily, and emperors may even try to mend the Great Schism.
Clerical scandal: simony, embezzlement, clergy marrying or having children, head of faith murdered or marrying.
Secular interference: imprisoning a head of faith, ecclesiastical grant claims, replacing realm priests, lay investiture disputes.
Religious changes in the land: county conversions to or from Christianity, new or divergent rites, heresy outbreaks, clerical regions created or split.
War and holy sites: Jerusalem lost or reclaimed, great holy wars won or declared against Christians, humiliation wars, excommunication wars.
Shows of devotion: pilgrimages completed, cathedrals built, ecumenical councils hosted, mass rite conversion great projects.
Deliberate steering: the Guide the Christian Church decision is available to pious, learned, or powerful rulers every ten years at major piety cost. Choose which future Chapter you wish to push toward, and fire a massive Catalyst (+75 points) in that direction.
## What changed
**Church Treasury** — Great Projects constructing Grand Cathedrals and mass-converting neighboring pagans are now funded from the Church Treasury rather than personal funds.
**Ecclesiastical Requests** — Church leaders can now excommunicate characters in the same Archdiocese, request new Ecclesiastical Titles that split regions, request elevations of puppets to Archbishop or Patriarch positions, and request new Rites be founded.
**Head of Faith Authority** — Church leaders can become Head of Faith for religions currently without one, such as 867+ Chalcedonian Christianity.
**Church Structure** — Heads of Faith now maintain their own Treasury (separate from personal Gold), possess a personal clerical domicile that can be upgraded, and appoint subordinate bishops within their ecclesiastical hierarchy.
**Church Authority Law-Group** — Heads of Faith maintain their own Church Authority system (theocratic parallel to Crown Authority) that costs Piety to raise and unlocks abilities including establishing theocratic dynasties. Lowered authority exposes them to Humiliation Casus Belli from neighboring Christian rulers.
**Papal Powers** — Papal authority now includes appointing and ordering Cardinals, calling Ecumenical Councils, excommunicating displeasing rulers, approving Catholic Holy Sites, and issuing Papal Bulls for targeted crusades, declaring Rites heretical, and permitting or forbidding Tenets.
**Succession Options** — New Pope selection offers three paths: the entrenched Cardinal in Church power structure, the most Devoted Cardinal, or the Rite Head with the largest flock.
## Overall
Church leaders and the Papacy now operate as independent political actors with their own economic systems, hierarchies, and powerful ecclesiastical tools to influence the Christian world.
Plan and Construct a Grand Cathedral as a Great Project, funded out of the Church Treasury rather than your purse.
Mass-convert neighboring pagans through a Great Project.
Excommunicate a character in the same Archdiocese , with the request lodged under his name rather than yours.
Request a new Ecclesiastical Title , splitting their current region in two
Request an Elevation to the See for your Puppet, i.e. make them an Archbishop or Patriarch.
Found a Rite - the secular ruler's only legal route into the Rite system you saw last time. Now you know who's holding the pen.
Turn him into the Head of Faith of a Faith that doesn't currently have one (such as 867+ Chalcedonian Christianity).
Has a Treasury (which belongs to the Church, and works similarly to Treasury in admin realms), as distinct from their Gold
Has a personal clerical domicile, they can build up to better see to the needs of their flock
Appoints subordinates (bishops) within their own ecclesiastical hierarchy
Often serves as the Court Chaplain of local secular rulers
Cannot start wars against Christian rulers, but can gain land from Christian rulers by exploiting their inheritance laws
Maintains their own Church Authority law-group, the theocratic parallel to a feudal lord's Crown Authority. Raising it costs Piety but unlocks abilities, most notably the legal precondition for establishing a theocratic dynasty. Letting it slip exposes you to a new Humiliation CB that Christian neighbors with higher authority or Piety can declare (at considerable consequences, of course)
They remain a political actor. They can still rise, fall, and be schemed against
You appoint (and pay) Cardinals , and give them Orders
You call Ecumenical Councils and decide what they are about
You Excommunicate rulers who displease you, with all the secondary consequences that cascade through the political map
You approve Holy Sites for Catholicism
You issue Papal Bulls , powerful edicts underwritten by Rome. These include the ability to launch a targeted crusade, declaring a Rite heretical, or declaring a certain Tenet permitted or forbidden.
The obvious choice (Cardinal most entrenched in the Church power structure)
The pious choice (Cardinal with the highest level of Devotion)
The powerful choice (Rite Head with the largest flock)