Might I venture an opinion, after some fairly extensive reading occasioned by an editing job I was asked to do involving historical writing:
The link between Xavier's encouragement of inquisitorial policy in India and the time of his departure and eventual demise may be quite unaffected by the time dimension. Xavier was basically an Administrator (Provincial Superior) in Goa, and his recommendations (right down to his marginal notes) would have been been the signposts for decision-makers in Rome, Lisbon and Goa for at least half a century after his death. I think that Xavier earned his spurs as a Missionary for his work with the 'pearl divers'. He probably despised the Goa 'desk work', and was gone 'beyond the horizon' at every possible opportunity. I should say he was mistaken in his somewhat jaundiced view of Indian Culture, and in his greater appreciation of Japanese; but he was acting under the prevailing zeitgeist of his time. Making a saint of him did not confer infallibility, or even 'objectivity'---but despite all that he was still a very great person. In respect to the work of Dr. Theotonio De Souza, he has fully demonstrated his committment to objective thinking in the historical context. I think that he is doing the right thing in his careful analysis of very complex processes, now in danger of being enveloped in the mists of time. But we must not expect infallibility or total objectivity from him either. He has a difficult job to do, and he's doing it as best he can.
