 The police inspectors questioned Feletti, but each time they asked about anything to do with Mortara or his removal the monk said that a sacred oath precluded his discussing affairs of the Holy Office. When Curletti ordered him to hand over all files relating to the Mortara case, Feletti said that they had been burned — when asked when or how, he repeated that on Holy Office matters he could say nothing. Pressed further, Feletti said: "As far as the activities that I carried out as Inquisitor of the Holy Office of Bologna, I am obliged to explain myself to one forum only, to the Supreme Sacred Congregation in Rome, whose Prefect is His Holiness Pope Pius IX, and to no-one else." After the police searched the convent for documents relating to the Mortara case — they found nothing — the inquisitor was escorted to prison. The news that Feletti had been arrested caused the press storm surrounding Mortara, which had died down somewhat, to flare up again across Europe.
