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L’évolution historique

Under King Henry VIII papal authority was abrogated and royal supremacy over the English church was asserted in the Act of Supremacy 1534. The Convocations (assemblies of bishops and clergy) were obliged to obtain royal authority for their acts by the Submission of the Clergy Act of the same year. Anglican independence and a classical Anglican theology which was ‘both Catholic and Reformed’ were put in place in the ‘Elizabethan settlement’ from 1558 onwards. In Wales the Anglican dioceses were disestablished in 1920 and formed a separate Church in Wales.

In Scotland, the Reformation dates from 1560. The Scottish Parliament guaranteed the liberties of the church and its presbyterian form of government in 1592 ; the latter was restored, after an episcopal interlude, in 1690. The episcopalians then formed the (Anglican) Episcopal Church of Scotland.

In Ireland, English domination saw the creation of the (Anglican) Church of Ireland, finally disestablished in 1871. It was always a minority church, the majority of the Irish remaining Roman Catholic in allegiance.

England continues to have certain constitutional rules designed to secure the Protestant succession to the throne (Act of Settlement 1701). The sovereign is required to join in communion with the Church of England of which she is Supreme Governor, and anyone who becomes or who marries a Roman Catholic is excluded from succession to the throne. These rules reflect historical events but do not hinder the close working relationship between the Catholic Church and the other churches, or between that church and the state. The Roman Catholic Church was able to restore a hierarchy in Great Britain in 1850, although the titles of Catholic archbishops and bishops are still given a limited recognition in official British protocol.

The sovereign takes various oaths, on accession to the throne and at her coronation (which takes place within a Church of England eucharist) to protect its rights (see Coronation Oath Act 1688 ; Union with Scotland Act 1706). As the Church of England is in a sense a part of the state, however (for example, a number of bishops sit as members of the House of Lords), there can be no ‘concordat’ or treaty-like relationship between church and state. The Scottish position is not dissimilar : during the period of nearly three centuries during which there was no separate Scottish Parliament, the annual General Assembly of the Church of Scotland was a major forum for the expression of Scottish national feeling.

D 11 septembre 2012    ADavid McClean

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