Moreover, in this time of _sede vacante_ [21] a concession has been obtained from the clergy that is not customary, as I am told, in the chancillerias of Valladolid and of Mexico. I beseech your Majesty to have me advised of your will in all respects, and to be pleased to have much consideration given to the fact that the altar and its ministers are in much confusion, and that things should not be introduced which are vanity, but only such as are fitting to the grandeur due to the office of ministers of your Majesty. As for the cities, they too are representatives of your Majesty, and it is just that, as such, they should be honored. What I mention as allowed here _sede vacante_, which is not customary in Valladolid or in Mexico, is the giving, as is reported, of the pax [22] to the auditors. The religious orders are generally defective in a matter pertaining to the instruction; it is a most serious defect, and demands your Majesty's interference. I fear that at times it occurs through ignorance or want of reflection; and I am not sure if there be not mixed with it, now and then, a lack of affection for the Indians. They are wont to maintain certain mission villages, where they have baptized several, or even a goodly number; and then they leave them, and the bishop has no one to station there; thus souls are lost, and those baptized return to their idolatries and old ways of life--as is the case even now. It is possible that if they abandoned missions of some value, some secular clergyman might be found to go to them. But they only abandon those that no one desires--unless it be the devil, to take them away with him to hell. We are not taught to do this by the theologians and the jurists in matters of distributive justice, wherein they say that in certain times of need the less valuable benefices are to be given in turn to the most worthy of the priests, on account of the greater need of faithful ministration among the souls in the poorer benefices. Some of the religious, too, who are good missionaries and good linguists, leave here--their superiors giving them permission, as they find that they are restless, and cannot be quieted by kind methods. But this is a great pity: in the first place, on account of the religious, who thus go astray in soul; and, again, for the poor Indians, so needy as they here are. Neither is it right that your Majesty should go to such expense to bring religious here, and then have them depart one after another--perhaps because they are not chosen as superiors in their respective orders, and for other trivial reasons--or that the superiors of the religious orders should have power to give them permission to go away. On the other hand, it would be of great advantage to make arrangements with the governor that he should not give them passage; if your Majesty would give the governor notice of this, it would be well.