antónio vieira had long regarded the new christians with compassion and had urged king john iv, with whom he had much influence and support, not only to abolish confiscation but to remove the distinctions between them and the old christians. he had made enemies and the inquisition readily undertook his punishment. his writings in favor of the oppressed were condemned as "rash, scandalous, erroneous, savoring of heresy, and well adapted to pervert the ignorant." after three years of incarceration, he was penanced in the audience-chamber of coimbra on 23 december 1667. his sympathy for the victims of the holy office was sharpened by his experience of its "unwholesome prisons", where he wrote that "five unfortunates were not uncommonly placed in a cell nine feet by eleven, where the only light came from a narrow opening near the ceiling, where the vessels were changed only once a week, and all spiritual consolation was denied." then, in the safe refuge of rome, he raised his voice for the relief of the oppressed, in numerous writings in which he characterized the "holy office of portugal as a tribunal which served only to deprive men of their fortunes, their honor, and their lives, while unable to discriminate between guilt and innocence; it was known to be holy only in name, while its works were cruelty and injustice, unworthy of rational beings, although it was always proclaiming its superior piety."