Note 1241 — Chapter III · PROTESTANTISM. (continued 2)
Reading edition
Boronat, II, 120-22.
The Roman Inquisition prohibited conversation with heretics, save by special licence, even for the purpose of converting them. When, in 1604, the Constable of Castile was about to depart for England as ambassador, and he consulted the Holy See, he was told that he did not require a dispensation to enable him to converse with them, but no concessions could be made as to communicating with them in baptisms and marriages. In 1617 the nuncio at Madrid asked instructions as to his conduct towards the English ambassador, and was told to hold as little intercourse with him as possible.—Decret. Sac. Cong. Sti Officii, pp. 156, 227, 231 (Bibl. del R. Archivio di Stato in Roma, Fondo Camerale, Congr. del S. Officio, Vol. 3).