same secrecy
upon all those who act as accusers or witnesses, or who ratify their
former testimony, and upon all honest persons who are present at such
ratification--ordering all the said parties to observe secrecy, under
pain of excommunication, and under the obligation of the oath which
they took when making their depositions. The commissary, moreover,
shall impose other punishments, pecuniary or corporal; and shall
enlarge on the gravity of the sin committed in the disclosure of a
secret by a witness, with this warning, that the Inquisition punishes
from the standpoint of example, and according to the character of the
person and the nature of the transaction. On account of the great
distance, [to Manila] [39] it is fitting to make this provision,
that whenever any person who shall incur excommunication for having
disclosed a secret shall come, of his own free will, to ask for
absolution, therefore with the confession of his guilt the commissary
shall absolve him, and impose upon him some secret spiritual penance,
such as will entail no stigma or infamy. The commissary shall submit
his own denunciation to the Holy Office, without making further
investigations concerning the matter except in serious cases. But
should the disclosure of a secret result in any marked injury or
bring dishonor to a person, in such an event further information is
required, in order that in either case the Holy Office may, after due
examination, justly dispose of the matter as is fitting, although no
change will result for the absolved person.

4. Special care must be taken to warn bishops, vicars-general
[_provisores_], visitors, and vicars, that they are not allowed
to mention crimes of heresy or the like in their public letters
and proclamations during visit; for his Holiness has referred and
submitted such cases to the most illustrious inquisitor-general and
the inquisitors appointed by him in all the kingdoms and seigniories
of his Majesty. Therefore they shall try these cases _privatim_,
which other judges can neither try, nor undertake to investigate,
nor otherwise handle. Since in visitations crimes often come to light
which must be tried by the Holy Office, warning must be given that
these should be submitted to the Inquisition, with all secrecy and
without the knowledge of the guilty party. The same must be done in
suppressing the titles of vicars, in annulling the head of processes
and charges made by the bishops, and in suppress