Scottish Catholic Observer

Cardinal Keith O’Brien has welcomed the news that anti-Catholic elements in the Act of Settlement are to be removed but said the ultimate aim is to have the legislation repealed.

Cardinal O’Brien, Britain’s most senior Catholic clergyman, welcomed the ‘process of change’ that the 16 leaders of Commonwealth countries where the queen is head of state began last week by agreeing to reform the act as part of changes to royal succession. Prime Minister David Cameron and the 15 other leaders reached an agreement on allowing the British monarch to marry a Catholic and on giving royal daughters primacy of succession during the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Perth, Australia, last Friday.

First Minister Alex Salmond has also hailed the historic move but said it was ‘disappointing that the reform has stopped short of removing the unjustifiable barrier on a Catholic becoming monarch.’

Historic move

Mr Cameron said he had pushed through the change as the old rules were no longer suitable for a ‘modern Britain.’

“The idea a future monarch can marry someone of any faith except a Catholic, this way of thinking is at odds with the modern countries that we have become,” Mr Cameron said. “Attitudes have changed fundamentally over the centuries and some of the out-dated rules—like some of the rules of succession—just don’t make sense to us any more.”

However, the Prime Minister added that he had no plans to make further changes that would allow non-Anglicans, Catholics or those of other faiths, to succeed to the throne. He claimed that allegiance to the Pope might conflict with the sovereign’s role as the supreme governor of the Church of England.

Cardinal O’Brien, who has previously described the Act of Settlement as evidence of Britain’s anti-Catholic character, said the reforms were a positive step forward on a longer journey.

“I welcome the statement from the Prime Minster indicating that his Government together with all of the Commonwealth heads of government intend to reform the Act of Settlement,” the cardinal said. “I am pleased to note that the process of change, which I hope will lead to the repeal of the act, has started and I look forward to studying the detail of the proposed reforms and their implications in due course.”

First Minister

Mr Salmond, who has campaigned on this issues for many years, said he was glad that progress had been made on what had previously been an ‘impediment in the message of equality of faith and gender in society.’

He also said that he was ‘pleased’ that ‘the arguments put forward by previous Prime Ministers—that this was administratively too difficult, requiring the consent of 16 Commonwealth countries—have been shown to be nonsense.’

However Mr Salmond said these reforms did not go far enough and dismissed the Prime Minster’s claims that a Catholic monarch would mean the disestablishment of the Church of England.

“It is deeply disappointing that the reform has stopped short of removing the unjustifiable barrier on a Catholic becoming monarch,” he said. “It surely would have been possible to find a mechanism which would have protected the status of the Church of England without keeping in place an unjustifiable barrier on the grounds of religion in terms of the monarchy. It is a missed opportunity not to ensure equality of all faiths when it comes to the issue of who can be head of state.”

The First Minster appears to have the backing of the Scottish people on this issue as a YouGov poll taken last weekend found a clear majority of Scots support ending the current restriction on Catholics inheriting the throne.

The poll of 1676 adults found that 65 per cent of those in Scotland felt the Act of Settlement should be changed to allow a Catholic monarch compared to 48 per cent across the whole of the UK.

Disappointment

The Church and state leaders’ concerns were echoed and amplified by Gerald Warner, a Scottish Catholic Observer columnist who is an informed voice on constitutional matters. He described the reforms as a ‘gross insult’ to Catholics.

“David Cameron proposes to initiate the vast upheaval of amending the Act of Settlement and eight other statutes, for the purpose of reforming ‘discrimination’ against women, while leaving the ban on the sovereign being a Catholic in place,” Mr Warner said. “As a small sop he will remove the prohibition on the monarch marrying a Catholic, but the major discrimination of excluding Catholics from the throne remains.”

Mr Warner added that failure to allow a Catholic to become monarch would entrench anti-Catholic sentiment in the UK.

“Catholics have been discriminated against for 310 years and Cameron’s pseudo-reform will perpetuate that abuse for a further 310 years and beyond,” he said. “If Catholics do not mount an enormous lobbying operation to have the ban on a Catholic inheriting the throne removed when this legislation goes through parliament we shall only have ourselves to blame if those in power write us off as being of no account.”

The reforms are to be included in the next programme of parliamentary business to be unveiled in November, while New Zealand will lead a working group to coordinate their implementation in other Commonwealth countries.

The reforms may entail amendments to nine acts, including the 1689 Bill of Rights, the 1701 Act of Settlement and the 1772 Royal Marriages Act.

The laws were brought into force following the deposing of openly Catholic King James II, Britain’s last Catholic monarch, in the coup of 1688, which came to be known as ‘the Glorious Revolution.’

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