12-05-2025
An American Pope in the Era of Trump
As John Fisher, the great English martyr who tussled with Henry VIII over the king's demand for a divorce and a terminal break with Rome, languished in the Tower of London on charges of treason in 1535, Pope Paul III sent word that he was making the elderly bishop a cardinal. The hope was that while Henry might happily eliminate more junior prelates or dissident laymen, he wouldn't dare execute a prince of the church.
The king's response—referring to the galero, broad, tasselled red headgear that was then the symbol of the Catholic cardinalate—was laconic: 'The pope may send him a hat, but I'll make sure he doesn't have a head to wear it on.' The cardinal, who centuries later would be canonized as St. John Fisher, was beheaded a few weeks afterward.
