Cryptic crossword clue
Last pope and his troubled role in the Church

The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 11 letter word APOSTLESHIP

I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
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Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "role in the Church" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case role in the church = apostleship.
The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.
This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.

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