Reformation in Ireland in the context of "Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral"

The Archbishop of Armagh is an archiepiscopal title which takes its name from the see city of Armagh in Northern Ireland. Since the Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic successions to the title: one in the Catholic Church and the other in the Church of Ireland. The archbishop of each denomination also holds the title of Primate of All Ireland.

In the Church of Ireland, the archbishop is John McDowell, who is the ecclesiastical head of the Church of Ireland and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Armagh. He was elected as archbishop in March 2020 and translated to the role on 28 April 2020.

Anti-Catholicism in the United Kingdom dates back to the martyrdom of Saint Alban in the Roman era. Attacks on the Church from a Protestant angle mostly began with the English and Irish Reformations which were launched by King Henry VIII and the Scottish Reformation which was led by John Knox. Within England, the Act of Supremacy 1534 declared the English crown to be "the only supreme head on earth of the Church in England" in place of the Pope. Any act of allegiance to the latter was considered treasonous because the papacy claimed both spiritual and political power over its followers. Ireland was brought under direct English control starting in 1536 during the Tudor conquest of Ireland. The Scottish Reformation in 1560 abolished Catholic ecclesiastical structures and rendered Catholic practice illegal in Scotland. Today, anti-Catholicism remains present in the United Kingdom, particularly in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Anti-Catholicism among many of the English was grounded in the fact that the Holy See sought not only to regain its traditional religious and spiritual authority over the English Church, but was also covertly backing regime change in alliance with Philip II of Spain as a means to ending the religious persecution of Catholics throughout the British Isles. In 1570, Pope Pius V declared Elizabeth I who ruled England and Ireland deposed and excommunicated with the papal bull Regnans in Excelsis, which also released all Elizabeth's subjects from their allegiance to her. This rendered conditions impossible even for Elizabeth's subjects, like Richard Gwyn and Robert Southwell, who were completely apolitical but persisted in their allegiance to the Catholic Church in England and Wales, as the Queen and her officials refused to accept that her subjects could maintain both allegiances at once. The Recusancy Acts, legally coercing English, Welsh, and Irish citizens to conform to Anglicanism and attend weekly services on pain of prosecution for high treason, date from Elizabeth's reign. Later, regicide and decapitation strike plots organized by persecuted Catholics were heavily exploited by the Crown for propaganda and further fuelled anti-Catholicism in England. In 1603, James VI of Scotland became also James I of England and Ireland.

Protestantism (part of Christianity) is the largest religious demographic in the United Kingdom.

Before Protestantism reached England, the Roman Catholic Church was the established state church. Scotland, Wales and Ireland were also closely tied to Roman Catholicism. During the 16th century, the English Reformation and the Scottish Reformation in differing ways resulted in both countries becoming Protestant while the Reformation in Ireland did not enjoy the same degree of popular support.