Government plans to change law on Catholic monarchs
by Anne Thomas
Posted: Wednesday, December 10, 2008, 22:50 (GMT)
The Government is drafting new laws to end a 307-year-old ban on Roman Catholics becoming Monarch.
The controversial 1701 Act of Settlement states that only Protestant heirs of Sophia, granddaughter of James I, can take the throne and also blocks the monarch from even marrying a Catholic.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw is said to be “working hard” to end the ban, according to Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy.
The East Renfrewshire MP was quoted by The Herald newspaper as saying, “It’s not because I’m a Catholic that I feel it. It’s unfair, wrong and does not fit well into a modern sense of what Britain is about.”
The British monarch has traditionally been “defender of the [Protestant] faith” but Prince Charles has expressed his intentions to change the title to “defender of faith” to reflect Britain’s religious diversity.
Copyright © 2009 Christian Today. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The comments below are readers' personal opinions and are in no way intended to reflect the editorial opinion of Christian Today.
Added: Friday, December 12, 2008, 18:25 (GMT)
This is horrifying! England is a Protestant country and therefore should safeguard having a Protestant monarch. If a Catholic monarch is allowed we shall return to the same sort of non-Biblical excesses as were so evident before the Reformation and which Mary tried to reintroduce.
Michael Kemp, Swindon, Wiltshire
Added: Thursday, December 11, 2008, 15:52 (GMT)
Yes, it's high time this law was changed; Christians are ecumencially minded and are working towards unity in the the 21st century.
Sandra, Vale of Evesham, Worcestershire
Added: Thursday, December 11, 2008, 14:08 (GMT)
As you probably know, Defender of the Faith was the title given to Henry V111 for a theological work which defended Roman Catholicism
Bill, London
