“Gussied up”
has been used most of the decades of my 62 years in a countless number of civil discussions public and private.
I might depend on the region one is in or comes from.
It’s not very formal, snooty or high falootin.
It is civil and very communicative.
In this context it was pejorative. In most contexts it’s pejorative, though I’ll grant you that it can be used non-pejoratively.
But please don’t tell me you did not intend it pejoratively when you said that those who find the encyclical defensible are merely gussying up world domination.
My bad. It was Poe White who used “gussied up” pejoratively. You came to her/his defense. The two of you make a nice tag-team.