Interior Undersecretary Cardenal Marín — not to be confused, as this paper feels obliged each time to note, with His Eminence the Cardenal — told deputies Wednesday that the government 'harbours no grievance with any faith tradition practised peacefully within Almaria, but will act decisively against those who instrumentalise religion to undermine constitutional order.' The line was applauded from the centrist benches and denounced, within the hour, from the opposition Progressive Bloc.

The Progressive leader accused the Undersecretary of reaching for coded language ahead of the autumn municipal elections in Almaria Vella — elections that, on present polling, will turn on perhaps four wards in the old city. The accusation was rejected from the front bench. No further clarification has been offered.

The timing has not escaped notice. A pastoral letter from Sant Joan is in circulation this week; a ferry sits quarantined at the Moll Vell; a strait to the east is closed. Into this crowded hour the Undersecretary has introduced a sentence that could have waited a week and did not.