upon taking over the archdiocese of guatemala, began preparing to travel all across his new dominion; he sent letter to all the secular priests ahead of time so they were ready to have a report for him upon his arrival. from this trip, which lasted from november 1768 to august 1770, he wrote "descripción geográfico-moral de la diócesis de goathemala" ("moral and geographic description of the diocese of guatemala"). by 1769, cortés y larraz was so disappointed with the ecclesiastical situation of his new diocese that were presented his resignation, but king carlos iii did not accept it and he had to continue as archbishop. among the problems that he could see were the excessive alcoholism of the people during the liturgical ceremonies and the poor preparation the secular clergy had in most of the parishes -the latter, a result of the regular clergy returning all of their doctrines in 1754 following a king's order and borbon reforms.