 The news of his receiving priest's orders at Rome reached England, and in 1597 he was outlawed ‘for a supposed treason done at Rome.’

In 1598 Walpole returned to England, and began to exercise his functions as a Roman priest and Jesuit missioner, though hunted about from place to place.After his return to England he passed under the name of Rich as an alias.In 1605 he was granted a pardon, which would have put him in possession of the family estates on the death of his mother.