70 YEARS SINCE THE WORLD WITNESSED THIS MAJESTIC ANTI-CATHOLICISM
Posted By: June 04, 2023
IRISH CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING
Distributed to Congress by Irish National Caucus
70 YEARS SINCE THE WORLD WITNESSED THIS MAJESTIC ANTI-CATHOLICISM AND STATE-SPONSORED DISCRIMINATION
Until the Coronation of King Charles III, May 6, 2023, it had been 70 years ( June 2, 1953) since the world witnessed the extraordinary spectacle of the English Monarch swearing an anti-Catholic oath … Solemnly swearing before God and the world to continue and uphold the appalling and hate-filled policy, since the Act of Settlement 1701, of excluding Catholics from “succeeding to the Throne.” …
Vowing to fulfill the highest law in England— the foundation stone of the British Royal Family and in a real sense the foundation stone of Northern Ireland—and vowing to “specifically exclude a Catholic” (as King Charles’ own website, below, explains) … Vowing to exclude, to ban, to discriminate against, and show total disrespect not only to English Catholics but to all Catholics in the world—and, indeed, disrespect to all people of goodwill who respect international human rights. Just as all people of goodwill would rightly be appalled and insulted if there were a clause in the American Constitution specifically excluding Blacks from being the President of the USA. It would not just be Blacks in America who would be insulted, but all Blacks everywhere, and all decent people everywhere.
Vowing to enforce State-sponsored religious bigotry and sectarianism may no longer mean much in England, but in Northern Ireland, it means everything to the significant number of Unionists/Loyalists/Protestants who still believe in Protestant Supremacy. Indeed, since the London Parliament unilaterally enacted the “Partition Act” on December 23, 1920—with the assent of King George V, great-grandfather of King Charles III—top Unionist/Protestant leaders have reminded the British Government that their allegiance is not just to the Crown, but to Protestant succession to the Throne.
Some in England may seek an excuse in regarding this appalling anti-Catholic bigotry in the British constitution as a quaint, silly oddity from older days. But in Northern Ireland, it is not a quaint, innocent, silly little oddity, but the root cause of historic anti-Catholic programs of burning out Catholic homes, expelling Catholics from the workplace, Protestant murder gangs, and the systematic oppression of Catholics.
Now, as a public service, I again publish that document that got me censored by the Belfast Telegraph—King Charles’ own website, which bluntly admits my charges of anti-Catholicism:
WEBSITE OF BRITISH ROYAL FAMILY
https://www.royal.uk/encyclopedia/succession
This is the official website of the British Royal Family. Written and managed by the Royal Household at Buckingham Palace, the site aims to provide an authoritative resource of information about the Monarchy and Royal Family, past and present.
The succession to the throne is regulated not only through descent but also by Parliamentary statute. The order of succession is the sequence of members of the Royal Family in the order in which they stand in line to the throne.
The basis for the succession was determined in the constitutional developments of the seventeenth century, which culminated in the Bill of Rights (1689) and the Act of Settlement (1701).
When James II fled the country in 1688, Parliament held that he had “abdicated the government” and that the throne was vacant. The throne was then offered, not to James’s young son, but to his daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange, as joint rulers.
It, therefore, came to be established not only that the Sovereign rules through Parliament, but that the succession to the throne can be regulated by Parliament, and that a Sovereign can be deprived of his/her title through misgovernment. The Act of Settlement confirmed that it was for Parliament to determine the title to the throne.
The Act laid down that only Protestant descendants of Princess Sophia – the Electress of Hanover and granddaughter of James I – are eligible to succeed. Subsequent Acts have confirmed this.
Parliament, under the Bill of Rights and the Act of Settlement, also laid down various conditions which the Sovereign must meet. A Roman Catholic is specifically excluded from succession to the throne.
The Sovereign must, in addition, be in communion with the Church of England and must swear to preserve the established Church of England and the established Church of Scotland. The Sovereign must also promise to uphold the Protestant succession.
The Succession to the Crown Act (2013) amended the provisions of the Bill of Rights and the Act of Settlement to end the system of male primogeniture, under which a younger son can displace an elder daughter in the line of succession. The Act applies to those born after 28 October 2011. The Act also ended the provisions by which those who marry Roman Catholics are disqualified from the line of succession. The changes came into force in all sixteen Realms in March 2015.
