When Father Sebastián pretends to have his crazy ideas for "reforming" the church the presiding prelate states that Sebastián will return to the diaconate to learn more. He later states that he wasn't fooled by Sebastián's speech, but decided to give Father Damián another chance. It may seem like the prelate was lying in his recognition of Sebastián's bluff, but the most likely reason was that he intuited Father Damián spying on them.