Odd FT Idea

 Here's a strange one...
     The Federal Stats Europa consists of France, Spain & Italy, and
their
clients/colonies.  Those 3 nations are heavily Catholic (may be an
understatement).  Rome, seat of the Roman Catholic Church, is in Italy. 
Could
it not be feasible that by this point, the RCC would be rather powerful?
 The
NAC is probably heavily Protestant/Episcopal, The ESU is Communist (a
religion
all its own), the NSL is probably a Protestant/Catholic mix, and the
Romanovs
are Eastern Orthodox.  With all of the politics going on, I can see the
RCC
holding great sway in the FSE.	The alliance with the ESU was on of
convenience, and was more to balance the NSL than representational of
any
political proclivity.  
     What I'm getting to is, couldn't the RCC have colonies of their
own, and
even a small fleet by now (manned by Swiss, of course)?  FTLs are cheap,
and
surplus warships are probably available, especially from the FSE.  I
just
can't help but like the idea of the Vatican Fleet, puttering around the
stars,
doing missionary-type stuff, and occasionally busting heads.  I think it
lends
a nice historical flair to the whole setting.  And they would be cool to
paint.

Noah V. Doyle
who knows that white starships with big red/black Christian crosses will
annoy
somebody at a con...