the pope's warning

[Owl_killer]

Playing as england, the pope has told me not to attack scotland for 6 turns, but scotland has one of my cities under siege. its been like 2 turns now and they are just not leaving. is attacking that army an attack? and why have they not been excommunicated for it?
what to do? i have an army right next to that city that could crush them.

[Kaidonni]

As long as they are in your territory, any attack you launch against their forces is considered self-defense. The warning only covers aggression (i.e. moving into their territory and attacking armies and laying siege to settlements on their turf).

[Owl_killer]

o great thx

[Cloud.]

Also, you don't always have to listen to the Pope's warnings. It might say excommunication, but unless you have less then 5 (?) crosses, you won't actually be excommunicated, you'll just lose a cross.

[Ichon]

It depends on the exact warning. If you haven't been warned by the Pope before then attacking a faction you have been warned against on your own territory is not a problem. However if you already violated warnings from the Pope and your papal favor isn't that high you can be excommunicated even for self defense attack against an army laying siege to one of you castles.

Also if your enemy is allied with some other faction and you attack that faction drawing them into battle or you accidentally ambush your enemy it can excommunicate your faction.