The encyclical was published one year after an influential and controversial three-volume defense of usury by Francesco Scipione. Months after the publication of "Vix pervenit", Maffei published a second, almost identical edition of his treatise-which contained the full text of the encyclical and a dedication to Benedict XIV, his friend-with the imprimatur of the Catholic Church. Papal historian John Pollard argues that the encyclical's prohibition on usury contributed to the dependence of the Holy See upon Jewish bankers like James de Rothschild.