Thus, a pontiff meets God in drama (4,5)
I believe the answer is:
soap opera
'drama' is the definition.
(type of TV drama)
'thus a pontiff meets god' is the wordplay.
'thus' becomes 'so' (synonyms).
'pontiff' becomes 'pope' (synonyms).
'meets' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'god' becomes 'Ra' (Egyptian god).
'so'+'a'+'pope'+'ra'='SOAP-OPERA'
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for soap opera that I've seen before include ""Coronation Street", for example" , "Fair City or Coronation Street, say" , "TV drama series" , "addictive programme?" , "Melodramatic TV serial" .)