The career of Beatriz Kimpa Vita, the prophetess claimed to be possessed by Saint Anthony, took place during his reign.

He was also a partner in several attempts to organize a peaceful settlement to the succession crisis in Kongo brokered by the old Queen Ana Afonso de Leão with the special cooperation of the Capuchin missionary Francesco da Pavia.

Popular discontent with the king rose in the early eighteenth century, for many felt he had not done enough to restore the kingdom by reoccupying the capital, and to this end Pedro led an armed column from Kibangu to São Salvador in 1694 and was crowned there by a priest.

Claiming to be possessed by Saint Anthony, Beatriz confronted Pedro on his lack of resolution, and he for his part wished to arrest her as a heretic, as the Capuchin priest in his service, Bernardo da Gallo, recommended.

In 1709 in turn, he occupied São Salvador, defeating the final partisans of Pedro Constantinho da Silva.