I just figured out you can buy the pope off and he will send a 1.2k stackarmy to the holy land (or wherever) but they just ran straight to beni suef and took it, gave it to me and then vanished. (I am monarch of acre and crusader states).

How do the crusades function work with the pope? What does this look like if you are just a soldier, vassal, prince, or monarch wanting to join the crusade and help out the crusader states when the pope calls one?

What other stuff is there?