Luckily for Cárdenas, in the time he was held at Charcas, the Jesuits' fortunes were on the decline in the royal courts of Madrid after the Jesuits had supported the independence of Portugal from Spain. Cárdenas was reprimanded for accepting the result of the election based on the old decree and for expelling the Jesuits without royal permission, but received no further punishment. He was restored to his post as Bishop of Asunción in 1660; after he claimed he was too old and ill to make the journey back to Paraguay, he was made Bishop of Santa Cruz de la Sierra instead, in Upper Peru. Cárdenas died in Arani on October 20, 1668.