Catholic Challenge

• • Elizabeth needed to make the Church of England more Protestant without offending Catholocs
  • Catholics made up majority of the nobility, having positions in power like The House of Lords, and being Earls and Lords
• • Majority of Catholics accepted the Settlement
  • But Catholic rebels were more of a threat to Elizabeth than Puritans
• Reaction of the Papacy: Counter-Reformation

  • The Pope launched the Counter-Reformation movement in Europe
  • He aimed to: support local Catholic communities , punish heretics, encourage Catholics to attack Protestants, rid Catholics of corruption
• Reaction of the Papacy: Church of England

  • The Pope instructed all Catholics to not attend Church of England services
  • The papacy motivated but did not lead to Catholic disobedience in England
• • The Settlement laid out that there were to be serious punishments for recusancy
  • But, many Catholics avoided punishment as Elizabeth ordered recusancy to not be closely looked into by authorities
  • Elizabeth wanted to avoid creating matyrs for the Catholic cause
  • As a result, the papacy had limited impact on the stability of Elizabeth’s reign
• • Foreign powers posed a threat as the most powerful countried in Europe, Spain and France, were Catholic
  • This gave plots foreign backing
  • France also had a claim to the throne through Mary Queen of Scots