As early as 1511 bishops were appointed for Santo Domingo and Concepcion de la Vega and in 1547 the first archbishopric in the new world was established in Santo Domingo City. From 1516 to 1519 the island was governed directly by three friars, and the licentiate Alonso de Fuenmayor, who governed thirty years later, was not only governor and captain-general of the island, and president of the royal audiencia, but archbishop of Santo Domingo as well. The Inquisition was established in Santo Domingo in 1564. With the decline of the colony the number of churchmen declined also, and by the middle of the seventeenth century the majority of the church buildings were closed and falling to ruin and the church's vast country estates were abandoned. The revival of the country during the eighteenth century affected the church as well, but the occupation by Haitians and French during the beginning of the nineteenth century caused its influence to wane, and restrictive legislation under Haitian dominion and the expulsion of the archbishop for political reasons in 1830, severed all connection with Rome for many years. The first archbishop appointed after the independence of the Republic was consecrated in 1848. The Roman Catholic religion is now the recognized state religion. In 1884 the Dominican government entered into an agreement with the Holy See according to the terms of which the archbishop of Santo Domingo is to be appointed by the Pope from a list of three names, native Dominicans or residents of the Republic, submitted by the Dominican Congress, which in turn engaged to pay the salary of the archbishop and certain other officials. The agreement as to the payments incumbent upon the Dominican government had the same fate as other financial contracts: it was observed for a short time and then disregarded, so that for years only small appropriations have been made for church purposes.