Cynics thought they heard unseasonal cheering in the Holy Office on Ash Wednesday.

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) had received a response from the Society of St Pius X (SSPX) to an offer of “theological dialogue” on the condition it suspended plans for illicit episcopal ordinations. If the prefect Cardinal Victor Fernández was really scheming to make the society look silly, its superior general Fr Davide Pagliarani did him proud.

Pagliarani’s letter gave five reasons for refusing the offer, which every bluffer knows is too many. His first two made the fair point that disagreement between the parties “does not stem from a mere difference of opinion, but from a genuine case of conscience” relating to the Second Vatican Council. So dialogue is futile. And besides, as the next three relate, when the SSPX has wanted dialogue, the beastly Vatican has spoiled it.

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