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RICHARD GRAY 413 sponse they had evoked in the curia, had begun to influence decisively papal missionary policy. This co-operative endeavour was to be strengthened im– mensely by the initiatives of a second African Christian kingdom. After Santori's death, leadership in papal missionary initiatives devolved upon Pedro de la Madre de Dios, the gifted and outstanding Spanish member of the Italian province of the Discalced Carmelites. Deeply involved in the de– cision to send a Carmelite mission to Persia where Shah Abbas had defeated a Turkish army in 1603, Pedro was often called upon to advise Paul Von Middle East questions. He took a leading part in directing the negotiations with the Coptic Church in Egypt 22 • and in an undated memorandum to Paul V on the potential role which could be undertaken by the Franciscans in Jerusalem, he highlighted the importance of fostering relationships with the Ethiopian com– munity at the Holy Sepulchre. Of "the six or seven" Christian groups in Jeru– salem, he wrote, "the Abyssinians or Ethiopians of Prester John are the most open for they esteem to be united with the Church of Rome and to recognize the headship of the Roman pontiff. These persons must be greatly cherished, and strongly confirmed in the union which they profess to have with the Holy Church". Pedro suggested that the Ethiopian monks at the Holy Sepulchre could be encouraged to elect an Ahuna who would then be confirmed by "the true", i.e. Latin, Patriarch of Alexandria, adding that "if it is true, as is reported, that Prester John is very dissatisfied with the present scandalous Ahuna", he might be persuaded to ratify such an election 23 • This intimate involvement in developing papal strategic thinking on the possibilities of outflanking the Ottoman empire suddenly in 1607 became clearly linked in Pedro's mind with a Carmelite interest in the kingdom of Kongo. By the end of the sixteenth century, a commitment to a Catholic iden– tity had become an integral part of the legitimating ideology of the ruling elite in Kongo. In 1594 Antonio Vieira, a close relative of Alvaro II, the king of Kongo, had reached Lisbon charged with the task of negotiating the creation of a separate diocese for Kongo. Vieira had greatly impressed the papal represen– tative in Lisbon, Fabio Biondi, both with his own understanding of the faith and his account of the Kongo court's commitment to Christianity. Biondi gave him every assistance, and Vieira returned to Kongo not only with his mission 22 V. Buri, L'unione de/la Chiesa copta con Roma sotto Clemente VIII, in Orientalia Christiana 23 (1931) 237-253. 23 OCD archives in Rome, 281e cartapaccio f 27-27v. See also Buri, L'unione de/la Chie– sa copta, 249-253.