The feast of St Thomas More, which falls on the June 22, has a special piquancy this year. On Friday, September 17, Pope Benedict XVI will address representatives of British society in Westminster Hall, the very place where More was put on trial and condemned to death on July 1 1535. There is a plaque in the floor of Westminster Hall commemorating this event; among the representatives of British society gathered to hear the Pope will be, one imagines, the current Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the Speaker of the House of Commons, and the Lord Chancellor - all offices that were once held by Thomas More himself.