Paul IV was elected in May 1555 and issued Cum Nimis Absurdum on 14 July, less than two months later. The opening words set the argument: it is absurd that Jews, whom their own guilt has consigned to perpetual servitude, should under Christian mercy be permitted to live among Christians as equals. What follows is a list of measures, and their combined effect was to remake Jewish life in Rome inside a single summer.
Jews were to live in one quarter, entered by one gate, closed at night. Each community was to keep one synagogue and demolish the rest; in Rome seven of the eight were pulled down. All Jews were to wear a distinguishing yellow covering in public, men a hat and women a veil. They were forbidden to own real property and required to sell what they held within a fixed period, at prices the buyers set. They were barred from every occupation except dealing in second hand clothing and lending at interest, forbidden to employ Christian servants, forbidden to work on Christian holy days, and forbidden to be addressed by any title of respect.
Rome had held a continuously settled Jewish community since before the Republic ended. The bull did not expel it. It enclosed it, and made poverty a matter of law.