In an unprecedented move, the U.K. is set to abolish a 300 year old rule and allow Catholics to ascend to the throne of England. As it currently stands, Catholics are not allowed to rule Great Britain, but under a proposal being drawn up by Downing Street, people in line to be king or queen will no longer be disqualified merely because of their Catholicism.
In another historic change, women will now be able to be Queen, even if they have a younger brother. Currently, a younger boy would usurp his older sister's place in line to the throne. The proposed change would make the "hardest working royal", Princess Anne, above her brothers Andrew and Edward in line to the throne.
Hat tip to MK.
being of irish, scottish & english ancestory, and having lived in ireland, i've always found the "religious strife" to be confusing. i use quotes b/c it's not really religious, the people there (particularly in northern ireland) use their affiliation as labels the way we do with race here. but the really ironic thing about is is that the anglican church is as close to catholic as you can get within protestantism. my religion advisor in college argued that it was more catholic then protestant, he said it was "catholicism light", a "catholic church sans the pope". this is particularly true with those of my persuasion, anglo-catholics.
ReplyDeletean interesting side note is that apparently tony blair became roman catholic, after being anglo-catholic, following his end as PM of britain. just shows how strong those labels still are there, that he felt like he had to wait to convert.
Exactly. I feel badly for Tony Blair, that he felt he couldn't convert while in office. It is just sad.
ReplyDeleteI was "Anglican" for 10 years before I reverted back to Catholicism. Anglicans have a lot to teach today's Catholics about liturgy!