As archbishop, he tried to enforce the episcopal visitation upon the order of Pope Clement XI but was opposed by the friars.

The violation was due to the governor’s orders to recover the government inventories and official records held by a notary public who was then taking refuge in the cathedral.

[1] On October 11, 1719, according to popular account, angry friars led by the Franciscans, Dominicans and Augustinians instigated a siege on the Governor's Palace as a show of support for the imprisoned archbishop.

Prof. Dr. Fidel Villarroel, a respected Spanish historian, master theologian of the Dominican Order and former archivist at the University of Santo Tomas, Hidalgo was misled by some advisers to wrongly portray the Spanish missionaries as the promoters of the tragic murder.

On July 25, 1721, he was removed by the King of Spain due to the death of Bustamante and was transferred in Michoacan, Mexico.