Anti-Catholicism Catholics, and his replacement by a Dutch Protestant. For decades the Stuarts were supported by France in plots to invade and conquer Britain, and anti-Catholicism persisted. The Gordon Riots of 1780 were a violent anti-Catholic protest in London against the Papists Act of 1778, which was intended to reduce official discrimination against British Catholics. Lord George Gordon, head of the Protestant Association warned that the law would enable Catholics in the British Army to become a dangerous threat. The protest evolved into riots and widespread looting. Local magistrates were afraid of reprisals and did not issue the riot act. There
Catholic Church in Romania took the Transylvanian throne in succession to Zápolya (who had since become King of Hungary). During that age, Catholics were recognized an autonomous structure, which allowed clerics and laity to organize teaching and administrate community schools. A particular compromise was the Saxon citadel of Biertan ("Birthälm"), where the fortified church was taken over by the majority Lutheran community, and Catholic worship was still allowed to take place in the "Catholic Tower", located just south of the religious building. The Counter-Reformation itself had an impact, with members of the Jesuit religious order being called into the region as early as 1579