[wideawake]

Also, he's a bit paranoid about the timing.

The Popes have been requesting a formal visit to the UK for years - it's not as if 2010 was the Vatican's idea.

Moreover, the official start of the Scottish Reformation is a matter of debate. While Scotland did officially make attending Mass a capital punishment offense in August 1560, the pope is coming in September.

The professor is free to hold his own parade a month ahead of time in order to celebrate the 450th anniversary of the codification of the brutal laws that officially united church and government in Scotland - though why a Free Kirk minister would care that deeply is beyond me.

[Verginius Rufus]

As I understand it, John Knox's beliefs took hold rather quickly in the Lowlands about 1560, but much of the Highlands remained Catholic for much longer (and might have remained Catholic if the authorities in Rome had made a greater effort to send priests to those parts). Another way of putting it might be that the English-speaking areas of Scotland became Protestant ca. 1560, but the Gaelic-speaking areas not until later.

Whether John Knox is the most important figure in Scottish history is a matter of opinion. Some might prefer Robert the Bruce, but for whom Scotland today might be just a larger version of Cornwall.

For the most important Knox in history, I'd vote for Gen. Henry Knox.