What Is Meant By The 'Catholic Emancipation'?

The Catholic Emancipation was the legislation which stopped discrimination against Roman Catholics.  After the Reformation, Catholics suffered quite a lot of discrimination and persecution and became very much a minority group who were nto allowed to practise their religion.
During the late 17th and most of the 18th Century, anti Catholic feelings were high, but by the late 18th Century, they started to be seen as no longer being a threat to the Protestant faith.  In 1791 they were granted the right to worship.  
A leading Catholic, Daniel O'Connell formed a Catholic Association in 1823 to fight for their rights.  He was elected to Parliament in 1828 but refused to take his seat because to do so he would have had to take an anti Catholic oath.  However, in 1829 Robert Peel passed the Emancipation Act, which gave Roman Catholics the right to enter Parliament.
Then in 1871 they were allowed to enter Universities.  This was seen as the final act of Emancipation.