Pius V Excommunicates Elizabeth

February 25, 1570

In the bull Regnans in Excelsis, Pope Pius V declared Queen Elizabeth a heretic, released her subjects from allegiance, and encouraged Catholic powers to depose her. Elizabeth tightened her laws against priests and recusants. The line between Catholic loyalty and English treason was now a single knife edge. The bull forced English Catholics to choose between queen and pope, a dilemma defining their experience for two centuries.