Pedro II played a decisive role by unequivocally backing the government's actions. He was a conscientious adherent of Catholicism, which he viewed as advancing important civilizing and civic values. While he avoided anything that could be considered unorthodox, he felt free to think and behave independently. The Emperor accepted new ideas, such as Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, of which he remarked that "the laws that he has discovered glorify the Creator". He was moderate in his religious beliefs, but could not accept disrespect to civil law and government authority. As he told his son-in-law: "government has to ensure that the constitution is obeyed. In these proceedings there is no desire to protect masonry; but rather the goal of upholding the rights of the civilian power." The crisis was resolved in September 1875 after the Emperor grudgingly agreed to grant full amnesty to the bishops and the Holy See annulled the interdicts.