Catholic Emancipation, or Catholic Relief, is a process in Great Britain and Ireland in the late 18th century and early 19th century that involves reducing and removing many of the restrictions on Roman Catholics which had been introduced by the Act of Uniformity, the Test Acts and the Penal Laws.

Requirements to abjure the temporal and spiritual authority of the Pope and transubstantiation place major burdens on Roman Catholics.From the death of James Francis Edward Stuart in January 1766, the Papacy recognizes the Hanoverian dynasty as lawful rulers of England, Scotland and Ireland, after a gap of 70 years, and thereafter the Penal Laws start to be dismantled.