on 26 november 1777, cayetano francos y monroy was appointed as the new archbishop of guatemala, a difficult task given that cortés y larraz, was totally opposed to the move of his diocese to the new capital of guatemala. initially, francos y monroy decided to postpone the appointment but on 20 november 1778 was pressured by the spanish crown, and therefore had to sail from cádiz in early may 1779. he brought along a large group for support which was carefully chosen as they had a well defined political goal: take control of the guatemalan secular clergy, which was in almost open rebellion.