The Pope sent this sentence to the King of Spain, by Alessandro Casali, his chamberlain. He was persuaded that Philip would be pleased to see that he had acknowledged the innocence of Carranza, and that he would be satisfied with the measures taken to prevent the books from being dangerous. The Pope did not understand the character of Philip II., who considered himself as much dishonoured as the holy office, by the exoneration of Carranza. He wrote to his Holiness, to prove that it was impossible that the works of the prelate could contain so many of the errors of Luther, if he was not an heretic. He therefore requested the Pope to defer the judgment until the return of his chamberlain, to whom he would give important documents proving the truth of his statement.
The king ordered a Refutation of the Apology for the Catechism of Carranza, published by Alpizcueta and Delgado, to be composed, and also another work by the Abbot of Alcala de Henares, under the title of a New Qualification of the Catechism of Carranza, and the Faith of its Author. Philip sent these two writings to Rome, in 1572, by Casali. When he arrived, he found that his master, Pius V. was dead, and Gregory XIII., his successor, received the documents, and joined them to the trial.
The death of Pius has been attributed to the agents of the Inquisition. Such reports are not often worthy of credit, but there are letters on the subject in existence, which contain very bold expressions. One of them says, "The death of a man who showed himself so much attached to a Dominican monk, and who compromised by his discourse the honour of the Spanish Inquisition, ought not to be considered of much importance. It (the Inquisition) would be benefitted by the death of such a Pope."
Philip II. congratulated the new Pontiff on his accession, and at the same time requested him to suspend the judgment of the trial, until he had heard the opinions of four Spanish theologians, whom he intended to send to throw a new light on the affair: these doctors were, Don Francis Sancho, professor of theology at Salamanca; Fray Diego de Chabes, confessor to the king; Fray Juan Ochoa, and Fray Juan de la Fuente, masters of theology. Their censures were joined to the trial.
Philip II. perceiving the turn which the affair now took, made a last effort, and the counsellors of the Inquisition, in order to obtain a recantation of the favourable opinions emitted by respectable theologians before the arrest of Carranza, made use of terror and persuasion: the first by making them dread that they would be arrested as being suspected of professing the errors which they had approved; and the second, by offering them an honourable pretext for reforming their first judgment, in the discovery of the inedited works of Carranza, in which there were a greater number of propositions susceptible of an heretical interpretation.
The first who fell into the snare was a man truly respectable for his learning, his virtues, his birth, and many eminent qualities; but his great age, and his dread of the dungeons of the Inquisition, may be considered as an excuse for his weakness, as well as for that of the venerable Osius.
On the 30th of March, 1574, the archbishop qualified, as erroneous, seventy-five propositions of the same printed Catechism, which he had before pronounced to be orthodox; he however added, that the errors were owing to the Castilian language in which the work was written, and that if it was published in Latin, it would be necessary to suppress, correct, or explain thirty-one propositions. The prelate also declared, that there were two hundred and ninety-two errors in the MSS., numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, and sixty-six in the explanations and sermons (of which a list has been given in a former part of this work), and from thence he concluded that the author was violently suspected of heresy.
Serrano, the reporter of the Supreme Council, who had taken these works to the Archbishop of Grenada, returned full of triumph to Madrid. The Supreme Council, in a letter to the king, expresses great satisfaction on this account, and says, "It is absolutely necessary to send this qualification to Rome, because the activity with which the affair is proceeded in makes it likely that it will soon be concluded, and this measure is the more important as the opinion of the Archbishop of Grenada will have much influence." This letter was accompanied by a false estimate of the censures, plainly showing the animosity of the council towards Carranza.
Serrano then repaired to Don Francis Blanco, then Bishop of Malaga. This prelate, on the 29th of April, retracted the opinion he had given in 1558. He censured sixty-eight propositions of the Catechism, although he had formerly praised the work. Serrano immediately informed the council of it, and that the bishop had pronounced Carranza to be violently suspected of heresy. The Archbishopric of Santiago being vacant at this time, the king bestowed it on this prelate.
Don Francis Delgado followed his example, and censured three hundred and fifteen propositions. Don Francis Delgado obtained the see of Santiago, on the death of Blanco, but he did not live long enough to take possession of it.