[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

good Norman steel certainly prevailed against the Catholic Church

The Normans, after all, were Catholics themselves (as were everyone in Western Europe, excepting some remaining pagans in Scandinavia), The battle to which you refer was part of a 3 way contest for control of southern Italy between the locals, supported by the Pope, the Byzantine Empire (this was the occasion of the Great Schism with Orthodoxy), and conquering Normans, still half-barbarians.

[allmendream]

Sure the Normans were nominally Christian / Catholic themselves, some were even pious.

But Pope Leo thought the power of God would allow him and an army of Italians to prevail militarily against the Normans. His army was convinced it was true as well, right up until the Norman charge and rout. So much for that theory. ;)

[allmendream]

Also the Moors who controlled Sicily were in on the contest for Southern Italy as well. The Normans kicked them out of Sicily and established the Norman Kingdom of Sicily, but not before the Moor's made the Sicilians noticeably darker from then on out; recalling a famous scene from the movie “True Romance” between Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walkin. ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm_LbJTvTWA