Sometimes, one's got to lie

Thanks to the Pertinacious Papist for pointing this article of a seminary professor posted at First Things:

Janet E. Smith, "Fig Leaves and Falsehoods: Pace Thomas Aquinas, sometimes we need to deceive" (First Things, June/July, 2011).

We are stunned, and not just by "pace Thomas Aquinas": was not even the doctrine of strict mental reservation, first proposed by the admirable Fr. Martín de Azpilicueta and much less problematic than the direct falsehoods defended in this article, condemned by the Church - even after being defended by great minds, including Suárez? Has not this all been settled? Must even the most basic Catholic moral doctrines be under debate in this never-ending aggiornamento?

[Update: nice take at Ite ad Thomam.]