Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791

Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791^[1]

Parliament of Great Britain
Long title	An act to relieve, upon conditions, and under restrictions, the persons therein described, from certain penalties and disabilities to which papists, or persons professing the popish religion, are by law subject
Citation	31 Geo. 3. c. 32
Introduced by	William Pitt the Younger (Commons)
Territorial extent	England and Wales
Dates
Royal assent	1791
Commencement	1791
Other legislation
Repeals/revokes	Papists Act 1715 Papists Act 1716
Text of statute as originally enacted

The Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791^[1] (31 Geo. 3. c. 32) is an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain passed in 1791 relieving Roman Catholics of certain political, educational, and economic disabilities. It admitted Catholics to the practice of law, permitted the exercise of their religion, and the existence of their schools. On the other hand, chapels, schools, officiating priests and teachers were to be registered, assemblies with locked doors, as well as steeples and bells to chapels, were forbidden; priests were not to wear vestments or celebrate liturgies in the open air; children of Protestants were not to be admitted to the schools; monastic orders and endowments of schools and colleges were prohibited.

The sentiment for reform was helped along by the signing of the Edict of Versailles in France in 1787, whereby non-Catholic French subjects were given full legal status in a kingdom where Catholicism had always been the state religion.