DBWI: The Catholic Church survives?

The Catholic Church was once the most powerful branches of the Christian faith, and in Europe. However years of infighting, anti-Popes, and then the Reformation would all, but killed the Catholic Church. With the last pope executed, the Catholic faith was all, but dead as a major force in the world.

But what if the Catholic Church? What if it was able to stay strong, or at least stop the worst of the fighting?
 
I think the Pope's moral authority was tied pretty strongly to his temporal authority. If you prevent the Byzantines from recapturing Rome in 1204, you might prevent the decline of the Papacy, but it was already showing signs of internal weakness long before this. The Dual Papacy was not a lasting solution, and with Italian nationalists having to choose between a German Pope or Greek one, they chose neither. Maybe if Savanorola wasn't killed he might emerge as a theocratic ruler, but then again the Reformation in Italy probably had too much of a Republican nature for him to seize power even if he lived. I still think it's the most likely way to keep the church alive, even though it would inevitably fracture. But the loss of Italy was simply too much, and like the Sunni Caliphate, the power to enforce religious orthodoxy vanished once the Pope's seat of power was permanently occupied by heretics.
 
You would certainly have to find some way of preventing the Byzantines from becoming a significant power in Italy again. Perhaps the Duchy of Amalfi could see a Pisa-like rise in power and form an anti-Greek coalition to defend southern Italy?

The rivalry between Venice, Pisa and Genoa would certainly be more prominent if we use a 'Byzantine resurgence in Italy fails' POD, as the three republics would have no reason to band together against the common threat. And if the Italian Reformation never occurs, the three are going to remain Crusade-prone and thus competitive over eastern territory in the Muslim lands to a much larger extent than they were under the less zealous Reformists.
 
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