Note 12 — Reforms Needed in the Filipinas

Item: Inasmuch as that city is so far from your Highness’s eyes, and where journeys to and fro are made with so great difficulty, it is necessary for the good government of spiritual affairs, according to the customary method in Yndia, that, in case of the decease of the archbishop of Manila, his successor be appointed there; or that at least the senior bishop, or whoever your Highness may choose, shall govern the archbishopric. For, the first time when the archbishopric was vacant, that city was seven years without a prelate; and the second time, three or four years. In this matter, I must tell your Highness that you could avoid having so many bishops there—especially those of Caceres and Nueva Segovia, who are in that same island of Manila; for they have no churches of importance, nor even any place wherein suitably to keep the most holy sacrament. Neither do the bishops do more than to confirm, and for that a bishop in partibus12 would be sufficient. Considering Page 327that the royal treasury is poor and cannot attend to many other necessary things, it is very inadvisable to increase those expenses in other ways. And considering the future—for there might happen to be persons in those bishoprics who do not think of or profess the poverty and bareness now maintained by those who are there—that would be a great burden on the Indian natives, and of no use.