Acc to H Belloc in his Shorter History Of England, Pope Alex III advised St Thomas that 'many' of the Constitutions of Clarendon( in which Henry II assumed papal powers) were tolerable. Belloc then goes on to say that The Pope was still hoping for the Kings support against the Emperor and as such 'did not fully support Beckett'.

I found this odd and sure enough Fr Parsons tell a quite different story.

He quotes the Pope as follows-- ' Among these abominable things, there is nothing good, but there are Some which may in Some way be tolerated by the Church. The Greater Number of them have been already condemned by ancient Councils as directly opposed to the sacred Canons'.

Doesn't sound like 'many' to me. I have added the Capitol letters.