The game has no launch date and developers say work has only just started

Pope Simulator will be sold on Steam and will only be available for Windows

The new trailer for the game opens with white smoking coming from a chimney

Pope Simulator will let you step in to the shoes of one of the most powerful people on Earth to see if you can bring about world peace.

Polish publishers, Ultimate Games, haven't set a launch date for the game but have uploaded a preview of the software to Steam and say it is 'coming soon'.

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A new trailer for the game opens with white smoke coming from a chimney, signifying the election of a Pope - likely a cutscene before the game begins with you as the new Pontiff.

The stunning trailer gives some insight into how the user will step into papal life and live out the daily duties of the Pope - including prayer and blessings.

This is just an illustrative trailer as Ultimate Games have only just started working on the new simulator game - saying it will be some time before it is released.

This is just an illustrative trailer as Ultimate Games have only just started working on the new simulator game - saying it will be some time before it is released.

Pope Simulator will include the ability to fight for peace on Earth and send out pilgrims Influence the world's fortunes

Discover the secrets of the Vatican

Interfere in international politics

Fight for peace on earth

Pilgrims around the world

Strategically manage Vatican influence

Make story-changing choices

Use the strength of your faith to help others

'The works on the game art are at a very early preliminary stage and the first trailer has been released for illustrative purposes,' said CEO Mateusz Zawadzki.

'However, Pope Simulator is certainly a unique project demonstrating a serious approach to the subject,' he added.

Ultimate Games say it will be up to players to determine how the game unfolds - with a series of choices to make on everything from meeting world leaders to families.

They game gives users the freedom to implement their own view of the world and interfere with global politics by meeting with world leaders.

The company says it is a 'realistic simulator of the Pope – face the problems of the modern world from the point of view of the head of the Church.

Click here to resize this module

'Make decisions that will weigh on the fate of humanity, convert and support the crowds. Plan the church's strategic actions through faithful envoys. Manage your travels around the globe. Fight for peace.'

The cost and timeframe for Pope Simulator haven't been announced but it is unlikely to be available this year.

You start the game on the conclave day as a newly elected Pontiff – you choose your coat of arms and this can affect the course of the game.

'However, every decision to interfere in the fate of the world comes at a price – with further actions you strengthen the faith of others, but you weaken yourself.'

Pope Simulator will let you step in to the shoes of one of the most powerful people on Earth to see if you can bring about world peace

The cost and timeframe for Pope Simulator haven't been announced but it is unlikely to be available this year. It will be sold on Steam when it is available

When you run out of strength in the game you can gain more by praying and summarising your accomplishments on a given day and to recover for more actions.

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'The Pope has no military or economic power behind him, but he has other means of influencing the world, which was evident in the 1980s, for example, when the communist system in Poland collapsed,' said Zawadzki.

'Our idea assumes the possibility to use, among others, the so-called soft power, and consequently influence the fate of the world and interfere in international politics. All this, of course, in accordance with the vision adopted by the player.'

A major investor in Ultimate Games is the publisher PlayWay - who created a game called I Am Jesus Christ where the user travelled the world performing miracles.

The game will only be available for Windows at launch and will require a machine with at least a Core i3-6100 processor in order to play it.

Vatican affairs specialist John L Allen Jr wrote in Crux that 'It's no accident, I suspect, that Pope Simulator was developed in Poland, where a whole generation remembers the role of St. John Paul II in the dissolution of the Soviet empire.'