He was associated with Cardinal William Allen in their hopes of a swift conquest of England by the Spanish Armada. With the failure of that enterprise, he spent nine years in Spain. In 1596, in Seville, he wrote Memorial for the Reformation of England, which gave in some detail a blueprint for the kind of society England was to become after its return to the faith.
He had hoped to succeed Allen as Cardinal on the latter's death. Unsuccessful, he was rewarded with the rectorship of the English College at Rome.