The five-hundredth anniversary of the Reformation was marked last week with the sotto voce ecumenism that we expect from churchmen these days. In Britain, the Archbishop of Canterbury preached a sermon against division and recorded an interview alongside his Catholic counterpart, the Archbishop of Westminster.

The religious conflicts that followed Martin Luther’s break with Rome seem to belong to a different universe. The schism led to monstrous acts of cruelty and slaughter in the name of a religion which, as both sides notionally accepted, elevates love and forgiveness as supreme values.