King Philip III of Spain later appointed him Viceroy of Valencia in 1602, and thus he became both the religious and the civil authority.

In this role he founded the Museum of the Patriarch, known among Valencians as the College of Saint John, entrusted to the formation of priests according to the spirit and the dispositions of the Council of Trent.

As archbishop, Ribera dealt with the issue of Valencia's large Morisco population, descendants of Muslims who converted to Christianity at threat of exile.

Ribera helped sell the plan by noting that all the property of the Moriscos could be impounded to provide money for the treasury.

Ribera's original proposal was in fact more extreme: he favored enslaving the entire Morisco population for work in galleys, mines, and abroad.

[5] The cause for his canonization was officially opened on 25 November 1925, and the process of evaluating a miracle attributed to Ribera began on 26 August 1934.