Penal laws (British) were generally repealed in the 20th century during Catholic Emancipation.
 The resulting persecutions were a defining feature of Christian self-understanding until Christianity was legalized in the 4th century
In 1854, Pope Pius IX, with the support of the overwhelming majority of Catholic bishops, whom he had consulted from 1851 to 1853, proclaimed the Immaculate Conception as a dogma in the Catholic Church

