Note 21 — Ecclesiastical Affairs of the Philippines

And in behalf of the archbishop of the metropolitan church of the city of Manila in the Philipinas Islands, I have been requested to be pleased to declare whether the decree of November fourteen of the former year six hundred and three is to be observed in those islands, in regard to the manner in which the said religious missionaries are to be visited; or whether the visit is to be exercised with the limitation [71] and in the form contained in the new decree which was given to Nueva España. The matter having been examined in my royal Council of the Indias, I have considered it fitting to give the present. By it I order that everything contained in the decree herein inserted be observed and obeyed by my governor, archbishop, and bishops of those islands, and by all other persons whom it concerns, exactly as is contained in it, for such is my will. Given in Madrid, August fourteen, one thousand six hundred and twenty-four.21