Cardinals' badge of honour
Sir Dan of the Nesbitry has sent me the quotation from Pope John Paul II's first address to the Cardinals on 18 October 1978:
I remember, at this moment, the figure of a great Bishop, St John Fisher, created Cardinal when he was imprisoned for his faithfulness to the Pope. On the morning of the 22nd June 1535, while he was preparing to offer his head to the executioner's axe, he exclaimed facing the crowd: "Christian people, I am about to die for faith in the Holy Catholic Church of Christ." May this unshakeable faithfulness to the Bride of Jesus be always the badge of honour and the pre-eminent boast of the College of Cardinals.