Could the next pope be English?
In the Catholic hierarchy a red hat marks out a cardinal. They are the church's most senior generals, with the red signifying they will spill their blood for the faith.
Four living Englishmen have such hats, all presented by Pope Francis. The oldest is Michael Fitzgerald OBE, from Walsall, an Arabist and expert on Christian-Muslim dialogue. Next is Timothy Radcliffe, a Londoner, former Master of the Dominicans. Third is Vincent Nichols, a Lancastrian, now Archbishop of Westminster. Youngest is Arthur Roche, a Yorkshireman and senior Vatican official responsible for liturgy.
The bookies are not offering stellar odds on any of them as papabile (Vatican watchers' jargon for a serious papal contender), but bookies and pundits are regularly wrong-footed by the mysterious windings of conclave voting. In Italian there is a saying that he who enters the conclave a pope leaves a cardinal. So, frankly, any of the English Four could get the top job.
According to the rules, the conclave can, in fact, choose any unmarried adult male Catholic. Given the UK has a population of 68 million, of whom around eight per cent are Catholic, that suggests we are, on paper at least, in with a fighting chance!
If this sounds far fetched, remember that it has happened before. And not that long ago in church terms. We had an English pope in the twelfth century (when the population of England was about 2.5 million).
Nicholas Breakspear was born in or near St Albans. William the Conqueror's cleverest son, Henry I, was on the throne, and life was relatively tranquil. Breakspear may have taken holy orders in England, but he preferred the sunshine, so headed off to the south of France.
In all likelihood Breakspear was running from the catastrophe that had suddenly ripped England apart one winter's day in 1135. Stephen of Blois had usurped the throne, and the Empress Matilda was fighting him for it, village by village, field by field, reducing the country to miles of smoking rubble and starving people.
Breakspear was tall, had a good voice, preached well, and was also handy with administration. He was talent-spotted, and appointed Abbot of St Ruf in Avignon. On a trip to Rome he caught the pope's eye, was made a cardinal, then sent off to Scandinavia to reform the church there. He did it so well that, in December 1154, he was elected pope and took the name Adrian (Hadrian) IV.
That same month a young and dynamic Henry II finished the civil war in England and began ushering in a golden age of English influence. By a deft marriage to the heiress Eleanor of Aquitaine he ruled land from Scotland to Spain, and England was soon a thriving military, mercantile and political force on the European stage.
The main challenge facing Breakspear was Europe. Specifically, King Frederick Barbarossa of Germany wanted Breakspear to crown him as Holy Roman Emperor. Breakspear, in turn, wanted it made very plain that any power Barbarossa enjoyed came from God. Meanwhile, King William I of Sicily was on military manoeuvres harassing papal lands. All Breakspear's diplomatic skills were required, and he eventually managed to quieten military threats and make peace with William. He also found common ground with Barbarossa allowing him to perform the imperial coronation.
Meanwhile the pope did not forget his homeland. He gave generously to St Albans Abbey, and confirmed the Archbishop of York's freedom from Canterbury and control over Scottish bishops.
Most consequentially for the British isles, when Henry II started eying up Ireland, Breakspear gave him the island as a papal fief, sending him an emerald ring to seal the feudal deal. The legal basis for this was the ancient Donation of Constantine, a charter vesting all Emperor Constantine's western lands to the pope (later, predictably, found to be a forgery). Henry then conquered swathes of Ireland – notably in Leinster and Munster – and for centuries English kings styled themselves Lord of Ireland as a papal title. This lasted until Henry VIII split from Rome, causing himself a spectacular constitutional headache, which he solved by strong-arming the Irish parliament into voting him in as their king.
Breakspear died in 1159 and was buried in St Peter's. His greatest achievement was to steer a solid course through fractious European politics, and he emerged as a notable pope of the period, serving as a model for several of his successors.
And so, as the conclave prepares to meet, it would be pleasing to think that the spirit of Breakspear still moves around Rome, and that his island nation may, once again, proclaim across sun-dappled cricket pitches, while clutching pints of warm flat beer, 'Habemus papam!'.
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