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As well as basic conversion of the populace to Catholicsm, priests can also burn witches and heretics - which usually gives them a boost in their piety and makes it more likely the Pope will select them to be a Cardinal. Also if you move priests of high piety into foreign territory where another faith is predominant they will start converting the population there, which may eventually cause religious unrest (rebel uprisings) in those territories. If you are planning on taking over a territory from a faction of different faith, moving a few priests into that territory a few turns ahead of your invasion can help to 'smooth' the transition to the 'new' faith. The AI also uses this strategy so be prepared to assassinate a few Orthodox priests and Imams.

Princesses can be used as free diplomats and also to marry generals. If you marry them to your own faction generals it will boost their loyalty (try to make sure they're not blood relations though!). Marrying them to foreign generals gives a chance to convert the general to your cause (i.e. he will come over to your faction) but there is a chance your Princess will be disgraced and go over to the other faction instead (based on the relative Charm and Loyalty attributes I think). This works both ways - I've had foreign princesses steal my generals and also fail to steal them.

Getting excommunicated means there's a chance of getting crusades called against you, which you may not think is a bad thing but it generally makes alliances harder. The good news is you can attack Catholic factions without being excommunicated. I've won several campaigns without ever being excommed. The trick is to keep on the Pope's good side - or at least more on the Pope's good side than the other guy.

You can usually get in a couple of turns of aggression before the Pope tells you to back off. Prepare your assault and blitz a couple of enemy regions - be prepared to assault the city / castle with siege weapons. Once the regions are yours the Pope can't make you hand them back.

Always back off an attack when the Pope demands a Ceasefire and sit out the period. Spend the time preparing for your next assault.

You can try to provoke the other faction into breaking it by leaving an apparent 'weak' territory for them to attack. Attacking enemy armies that invade your territory is generally permitted ("...it was self-defence yer honour!") - the exception is naval battles which always seem to get you excommunicated, although I have got away with having a blockading fleet remain in blockade mode because I forgot about it.

It goes without saying that attacking the Pope's enemies and completing Crusades makes the Pope happy. Ally with the Vatican early in the game. Make them happy by building churches - cathedrals and huge cathedrals make the Pope especially tingly for your faction. Gifiting cash, or if you're really after brownie points, a region or two to the Pope is also a good way of improving his opinion of your actions.

Make plenty of priests and use them positively (see above) - if you can dominate the College of Cardinals you have a good chance of having the next Pope coming from your faction. Even if you don't, if you have Cardinals you can vote for the new Pope and if your candidate wins you get a Papal standing boost.

If you are having real trouble with getting another Catholic faction to mess up their own Papal standing then the best way to remove them is to simply assassinate their entire family tree - the faction then becomes rebels which can be mopped up without any concern over Papal opinion. It's quite satisfying to assassinate an complete faction once or twice.

If the worst happens and you do get excommunicated you can always try to assassinate the Pope - a new Pope will always grant an amnesty on all excommunicated factions. Also if your faction leader dies your new faction leader will be given a chance to prove himself 'faithful'. This can work both ways of course - if you get an enemy faction excommunicated and then their King (or the Pope) dies then they will be returned to the faith. Given the pretty much pre-defined lifespan of characters in the game you can always time your assaults around the period when the Pope or your King is about to die anyway.