no less noted for their learning. In the number of these are also found the supreme pontiffs, innumerable bishops and clergymen, an endless number of religious in other orders, and the universities; and even various individuals of high character, and who are prominent in the Society, have with one voice been calling, at all times, for the reparation of the spiritual decline which has, by dint of force and through sheer obstinacy, been introduced in the Church universal by those who are now expelled. [This they have done] by their arbitrary opinions, destructive to the gospel of Jesus Christ, for they were the first to carry these into practice; and through a practice so detestable they have given amply sufficient reasons to the Christian princes who with their kingdoms form the greater part of the Roman Catholic Church--and, above all, to her eldest son, our most pious, ever august, and Catholic monarch Don Carlos III (whom may God preserve)--for banishing them forever from all their vast domains. And as this is an indubitable fact, and notorious to all the world, such likewise are the arguments set forth [in the aforesaid documents]; and any person who for lack of profound study and of discernment between sound and wrong doctrines, or for want of opportunity, or through undue affection for those expelled persons, has been either unable or unwilling to observe seriously their iniquitous proceedings--whether as perpetually displaying, under the pretext of obedience, their reluctance to obey and submit to the sovereign decrees of the vicar of Christ; or persecuting everywhere the bishops; or making war on the other venerable and most holy religious orders; or poisoning good morals and even the faith itself, especially in the missions of China and Malabar (having been also the cause of the ruin of the Japan mission, notwithstanding the zeal of the missionaries of other orders and of the noble martyrs of the seraphic order, [155] whose memory will endure in the Church): or intriguing against the governments and the lives of princes; and attempting to turn, this way and that, the entire world at their pleasure--he who, we again say, in ignorance of all that has occurred in this matter, may remain in doubt as to the reasons which have, by divine ordering, caused the downfall of these regulars, is under obligation of conscience to lay aside this doubt, and to admit that such causes were urgent in order that so many Christian and Catholic princes should unite in the same and so momentous a judgment. For, their hearts being in the hand of God (as the Scriptures expressly declare to us), they have herein assured the success of the measures that they take, and uprightness and justice in their proceedings--and much more in things of greater importance; for as vicars of God, each one in his own domain, they issue commands, impose laws, and govern in pursuance of justice, with special assistance from God himself. And therefore it would be