Going at war with the Papal States

[Decebalus3]

I played as Sicily and got excommunicated for attacking Denmark while on a crusade. (Ive been at war with Denmark for quite some time) So I decided to kill the Pope and got my best assasin there. I had a 35% chance to kill the Pope, so I went for it, but failed and got cought. As a result the pope declares war and in no time lays sieges on 2 cities. Playing as Sicily, is pretty bad having an enemy city in the middle of your empire. Especially if they have lots of money to raise armies fast.

So I assembled the troops and marched towards Rome. By that time they were unable to capture any of the sieged cities because I had a decent army in them and huge walls with cannons. Before laying siege to Rome, I was attacked by the Pope and 3 other armies at the same time. I was outnumbered about 3-1, but they were split in 4, so I was able to win and killed the Pope. But I had nothing left to take the city itself with another army nearby. So I assembled 2 armies this time.

The second battle for Rome was really intense. They recovered fully by the time I got there. While in game, at the square the new Pope's army made a cross formation which I thought was pretty cool. Also there must be a bug because by the time I got to the center square I started getting huge lag. Anyway I was able to capture Rome and kill the new pope.

So now they have a small army left near Rome with the Pope that got elected there. What should I do? I can easily kill him too along with his army and get rid of the Papal States from the peninsula.

[fahrenheit]

Try to drive him out of Italy, if you just kill him he keeps respawning. Try to rout him until he goes outside of your borders and takes refuge in another city.