The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

342
HISTORY OF THE POPES.
The sermons, too, which after the beginning of 1568 were
preached for the Jews on all feast days,^ led to several con-
versions.^ In the middle of 1569, twenty-seven Jews asked
for Baptism at Benevento.^
The attraction exercised by Judaism in Spain, even in the
XVIth century, is shown in a remarkable way by a brief of
Pius v., of September 6th, 1567.
In this brief the Pope says
that he has already conferred on Cardinal Espinosa, the
Spanish Grand Inquisitor, faculties to absolve from their sin
those Christians who had made use of Jewdsh religious rites ;
he goes on to declare that in the case of priests and clerics
who had been guilty of such things, it was not possible to
remove all the canonical consequences of such an act. The
Grand Inquisitor must no longer allow anyone who, having
received any ecclesiastical order, had taken part in Jewish
rites, to enjoy ecclesiastical benefices ; he must not advance
them to a higher order, nor must he under any circumstances
allow priests who had been guilty of that offence to say
mass.*
The Pope took part in person in all the many activities
of the Inquisition. If we have constant record of his activity
in this respect during the first months of his pontificate,^ the
same thing is true of the whole of the first half of his reign.
On June 14th, 1567, Bernardino Pia wrote to Mantua that it
was not possible to give greater pleasure to the Pope than
by helping him in things concerning the Inquisition.^ A
little later, the Imperial ambassador, Arco, was of the opinion
that Pius V. was more full of zeal against the heretics than
1 *Avviso of January 17, 1568, ibid. 1040, p. 477.
2 *Avviso of May 7, 1569, ibid. 104 1, p. 68b, (4 conversions).
' Petition from the " consoli et citta di Benevento " June
29, 1569, that a jubilee might be granted to all who were
present at the baptism, in Cod. Vatic, lat. 6184, p. 14, Vatican
Library.
*To Didacus de Spinosa, Cod. Barb. 1502, p. 221 seqq. ; 1503,
p. 120 seqq. Vatican Library.
* See supra p. 170, 291.
* *A. Luzzara, Gonzaga Archives, Mantua.