The Declaration of Indulgence, issued by King Charles II in 1672, primarily stated that strict religious laws would not be enforced. It aimed to provide religious tolerance for Catholics and dissenting Protestant groups by suspending the existing penal laws against them. This was part of Charles II's broader strategy to promote religious toleration, although it faced significant opposition, particularly from Parliament and traditional Anglicans.
The Declaration did not state that the monarch had to be Protestant or that Parliament members had to be Catholic, as those stipulations pertain to different historical contexts, particularly the Acts of Settlement and the Test Acts, which established the religious qualifications for holding office.
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