Catholic prime minister to dismantle Elizabethan-era law targeting Catholics in office

Britain’s first Catholic prime minister is moving to abolish a centuries-old law prohibiting Catholics from advising the King of England on appointing Anglican bishops. The Times reported Sept. 14 that Prime Minister Andy Burnham and his cabinet are introducing a bill in the House of Commons that would eliminate a legal provision barring Catholics and Jews from advising the British monarch on Church of England episcopal appointments, one of the prime minister’s traditional responsibilities.

Burnham called the law “unacceptable” and said that it amounts to discrimination against Catholics.

“The government will therefore introduce a bill at the earliest opportunity to correct this antiquated and archaic anomaly,” he said.

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Under the Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1829, any Catholic prime minister advising the British monarch on Anglican episcopal appointments would be “deemed guilty of a high misdemeanour” and could be barred from holding public office.

While Burnham is the first Catholic to hold the office of prime minister, the law did not prevent non-Christians, like Hindu and former prime minister Rishi Sunak, from advising the monarch on Church of England matters.

Although the Roman Catholic Relief Act still bars Catholics serving as prime minister from advising the monarch on Anglican episcopal appointments, the law was the first in centuries to allow Catholics in Britain to hold public office again.

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Britain passed a series of laws restoring basic rights to Catholics, many of which had been stripped away after Henry VIII created the Church of England in 1529 and during the reign of his daughter, Elizabeth I. Until 1778, Catholics were not even allowed to own or inherit land.

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