The Bishop of Assisi said to Francis one day: "Your way of living without owning anything seems to me very harsh and difficult." "My lord," replied he, "if we possessed property we should have need of arms for its defence, for it is the source of quarrels and lawsuits, and the love of God and of one's neighbor usually finds many obstacles therein; this is why we do not desire temporal goods."[14] The argument was unanswerable, but Guido began to rue the encouragement which he had formerly offered the son of Bernardone.

He was very nearly in the situation and consequently in the state of mind of the Anglican bishops when they saw the organizing of the Salvation Army.

It was not exactly hostility, but a distrust which was all the deeper for hardly daring to show itself.

The only counsel which the bishop could give Francis was to come into the ranks of the clergy, or, if asceticism attracted him, to join some already existing monastic order.[15] If the bishop's perplexities were great, those of Francis were hardly less so.

He was too acute not to foresee the conflict that threatened to break out between the friars and the clergy.