What was the main reason for Henry VIII's split with Roman Catholic Church?

Answer 1

King Henry the 8th wanted to divorce his wife and the Catholic Church (the Pope) refused to grant permission, so he invested religious authority in the Church of England.

The history of the Church of England goes back to the late 6th century and the kingdom of Kent. The events in the lives of Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and others were important contributing factors to the split, but they are a continuation of centuries of development. Early on, the church in England emphasized the importance of apostolic succession rather than the highly centralized Roman hierarchy. Apostolic succession is the idea that authority is handed down from bishop to bishop by a laying-on of hands. The Church of England, after this split, formed Presbyterianism and Anglicanism as its main branches of Christianity.

Answer 2

Whatever made you think that it did? First of all the Catholic Church is the Body of Christ here on Earth! It is composed of ,"Particular Churches"*,that is bodies of believers in different places.

The ,'People of God; as S.Paul calls the faithful in Rome, 'God's. beloved in Rome.' Later in Corinthians,[ Ch,1 vs,2.] he refers to ,'The Church of God which is at Corinth'.! In England the ,'Particular Church,' is known as the Anglican Church and in Italy the title was ,'The Suburbicarian Church of Rome'!

This is what the Catholic Church consists of, Communions of Catholics united through Christ's baptism within the one Church!

Authority in the Catholic Church devolved from Christ to the Apostles and from them to the College of Bishops. These in turn exercise their magisterium, [or authority,] through the medium of the Seven Ecumenical Councils.

Through these Councils the Church has been regulated since the Council of Jerusalem, [Acts 15.] and in the Council of Nicea it was laid down that no Bishop has the right to interfere in another Bishops SEE!

This is what Henry pointed out in the early reformation period to the then pope. He had no right to interfere in English Church business unless invited to by Convocation! The pope reacted angrily and broke off Communion with Henry, note with the King not with the English Church!

In 1564, at the Council of Trent, a council of the Roman Church made it a condition of membership that communicants had to agree with the papal claims in Jurisdiction and Authority and succeeded in netting a large number of Catholic Bishops, largely through pressure from their respective monarchs.

In 1570, following his attempt to issue a fatwa against Elizabeth of England, the pope called upon his supporters to leave English Altars and set up new schismatical ones. This was the split and it came from the new wider based Roman Catholic Church! {Note about 2pc, left!}

Reading? Littledale's Council of Trent!

Answer 3

Anglican Catholic Answer!

England did not at anytime split from the catholic Church, even during the hard days of the calvinist assault in the 1640. the faith was kept alive. Certainly at no time in the early reformation was there any wavering in the faith of England or the Church in England.

In fact in the first years of the reformation, the English Church affirmed its position on the catholic stance in a very positive manner by acclaiming its belief in the Seven Ecumenical Councils and the faith of the First Thousand years. [Convocation 1536/7 /42 and 72, also parliament affirmed in 1559!

At the very least the idea stated above is a gross error!

The English Reformation began when the pope denied Henry VIII's petition for an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, he had theActs of Supremacy passed, making him head of the English Church.

Under Mary I, England was briefly reunited with Rome, but Elizabeth I later restored a separate church that outlawed Catholic priests and prevented Catholics from educating their children and taking part in political life until new laws were passed in the late 18th century and 19th century

Answer 4

The main reason behind the split between the English Church and the Roman Catholic Church was the Pope's denial of Henry VIII's petition for divorce from Katherine of Aragon. Henry wanted to marry Anne Boleyn and could only do so if he divorced his wife first.

Answer 5

Below are various answers discussing the "reasons" for Henry VIII's split with the Catholic Church. Please note that "Roman" is an epithet first commonly used in England after the protestant revolt to describe the Catholic Church. It is rarely used by the Catholic Church. Of all the various reasons listed below, they can all be boiled down to one simple cause: sin. Henry and his various advisors all wanted their own way for one reason or another, and didn't care about what Our Blessed Lord wanted. Christianity is very simple: bottom line, you have to give up your own wants and desires out of love for God. You have to want and desire what God wants and desires, and not put your own personal urges before God. That is called sin, and that is what happened in England with Henry VIII and his two children, Edward and Elizabeth. Mary, for a brief period, tried to restore sanity to the Kingdom, but died, and Satan had his wishes fulfilled in her two half-siblings.

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He doubted his marriage with Catherine of Aragon because she hadn't bore him a male heir. He met Ann Boleyn and wanted to annul his marriage and be with her. He needed papal dispensation from the pope who wouldn't admit there was error the first time and who was captured at the moment by Charles V. Henry fired his closest adviser and hired two new men who supported the new ideas of Martin Luther. They advised him, if the pope won't grant your annulment then split the church off from the Roman Church. This way, the king heads the English Church and can grant his own annulment.

Henry VIII was not known for his religious nature prior to wanting to marry more than one time. When he DID want to marry more than once, he had to leave the Pope and Catholicism behind. Since he believed in Jesus and The Bible, his only recourse was to leave the Catholic Church and become a Protestant. England is still ruled by Protestant Monarchs.

he wanted to divorce from his wife of royal descent

The reasons for King Henry's split with the Roman Catholic Church actually begin with his older brother, Prince Arthur. Prince Arthur, being the heir apparent to the Throne married Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of King Ferdinand of Spain, creating a powerful marital alliance between England and Spain. However, Arthur died of an unknown illness in 1502 before taking the Throne. Despite his eldest sons death, Henry VII, Arthur and Henry's father wanted to maintain the marital alliance between England and Spain by having Henry marry his brother's widow. But, this would require a special dispensation from the pope since such a practice was forbidden by the church and considered incest. Catherine's Mother, Isabella, pressured Pope Julius II into issuing a Papal bull granting dispensation for Catherine to marry Henry.

However, Henry VII lost interest in the Anglo-Spanish Alliance and the younger Henry claimed that the arranged engagement had been made without his consent. But the marriage was carried out anyway and the Henry VIII was crowned King with Catherine as his queen in 1509. However, by 1525 Henry had grown impatient with Catherine's inability to produce a male heir that would survive past infancy (Catherine had given birth to a daughter, Mary, in 1516, but Henry desired a male heir). Believing that God was punishing him for marrying his brother's widow, Henry VIII desired an annulment to the marriage and petitioned the Pope to do so, however, Rome was under the control of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, who also happened to be the nephew of Catherine of Aragon. Pressure from Charles V caused Pope Clement VII to reject Henry VIII's request.

In the meantime Henry had become infatuated with a member of the queen's entourage, Anne Boleyn. Before any news from Rome could be heard, Henry VIII married Anne and had Catherine banished. Parliament then declared the marriage to Catherine annulled and Mary illegitimate and thus, only Henry's children bore by Anne to be in the line of succession. Parliament also passed laws that limited the authority of the Roman Catholic Church in England, prohibiting the Pope from making canons without the consent of the King. In response, Clement VII excommunicated Henry, declared the King's marriage to Anne null, and cut off all diplomatic ties between the Vatican and England. Further laws were passed by Parliament declaring the King to be the Supreme Head of the Church of England, effectively finalizing the split between the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England

Henry VIII did not act alone in breaking from the Roman Church, but acted on the tide of protest sweeping across Europe at the Reformation. Luther, Zwingli, Calvin and many others were earlier incensed at the corruption in the Church of Rome and broke away from Rome because of its practices - such as the selling of indulgences - forming the Protestant movement. The selling of indulgences was the sale of 'guarantees' of a set number of years off purgatory in return for large sums of money, which was against the teachings of Jesus Christ in that faith was the means to salvation and not one's ability to pay. Luther regarded the Church's claim of 'no salvation outside the Church' as a lie, and accepted Jesus' teaching and Biblical evidence that we are saved by Grace, and not by belonging to a man-made institution.

With regard to Henry, who professed the Christian faith all his life, his main concern was that the monasteries in England, part of the Church of Rome, were also becoming dens of corruption and power and betraying the Lord's name in whom they were set up. His subjects were almost rioting in the streets because of the problems there and the money that the monasteries extorted from the faithful, much to the demise of ordinary people and much to the amassed grandeur, power and wealth of the monasteries. Something had to be done.

Henry went down in history as an unpleasant man but he was a strong and decisive king, and a lover of the arts, a skilled musician and a benevolent and wise man unless betrayed, when he acted with the decisiveness that is expected of a strong ruler. The dissolution of the monasteries in England was an inevitable conclusion brought about by the corrupt institutions, and the pre-reformed Roman Church that backed them. Therefore Henry closed the monasteries across the country and imprisoned or executed those who stood in his way, branding them as traitors both to God and to the country. This incensed the Pope.

The decision of the pope not to annul Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon (to enable him to marry Anne Boleyn) was not the cause of the split as many believe (relationships were strained well before this), but provided Henry, at last, with the excuse he needed to ignore the authority of the pope. Far from being a 'heretic' and 'anti-Roman' as many would have him, Henry lived and died a Catholic, despite the pope excommunicating him as revenge for his non-acceptance of his authority. However, his split from Rome meant that Henry now declared Jesus Christ as the head of the Church (and not the pope) with himself as 'Supreme Governor' on earth, and the Archbishop of Canterbury its spiritual leader. This tradition has survived through to today where the Archbishop is still spiritual leader and Queen Elizabeth is still Supreme Governor under Christ.

Although Edward, Henry's ailing son, was a protestant, his reign was short-lived because of his death very young. He was replaced by Henry's elder daughter Mary, a Catholic. She reigned with abject terror (earning her the name 'Bloody Mary') who imprisoned and executed many - including women, children and priests - who dared defy the 'Holy' Catholic Church, which represented, supposedly, Christ's forgiveness and love.

After her welcome death her younger sister took over, Elizabeth I, who restored Protestantism to the country - not because the beliefs were different - they weren't, mostly, but the attitude, openness, honesty and love shown was certainly different after the corruption of the Catholic Church as it was then, and certainly different from how Mary interpreted it. The Nicene Creed (used in the Roman church) was still used in its entirety in the new Church of England, as it still is today even in my own church. But the empire-building nature and power base of the Catholic Church was removed. As a result of Henry's split, services in the new Church of England were said in English for the first time thanks to the Book of Common Prayer. The Bible became translated into English so that anyone who could read was able to read the scriptures without having to rely on a priest to tell them. Elizabeth's successor, James, was responsible for the Authorised version of the Bible (the 'King James' Version) still in use today.

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In 1539 (6 years after the break with Rome) Henry wrote his Statute of Six Articles which instituted the orthodox Catholic tenets as necessary conditions for Christian belief. As a result Protestants were being burnt for heresy even while Catholics were being executed for refusing to take the oath of supremacy. Throughout most of his reign Henry brutally suppressed the influence of the Protestant Reformation in England and theological and practical reforms were not instituted until his successors assumed the throne.

The split with the Church of Rome came about gradually and was brought about by what is known as "Henry's Great Matter". Henry's troubles with the Church of Rome began when fears arose over the issue of an heir to the throne. To that point, Henry's wife, Catherine of Aragon had only borne him a daughter, Mary (two sons had died within weeks of birth, a sign that the deeply religious Henry took to be from God, that the marriage was against His will). But Henry needed a son. Henry wrote to the Pope, asking for the marriage to be annulled on the grounds that as Catherine had been the wife of his brother Arthur, and the marriage had been consummated, and was there invalid and illegal. Initially it was believed that the Pope would grant the annulment, but when Catherine's nephew, Emperor Charles V, held the Pope prisoner, it soon became apparent that the wished-for annulment would not be granted. At the same time as Henry's Great Matter arose, tensions were mounting over the Pope's treatment of England. The country was only allowed one cardinal, with no possibility of that cardinal becoming Pope. Henry felt that, by refusing to grant the annulment, the Pope was interfering in matters of state and decided, once and for all to resolve the issue. Cardinal Wolsey's failure to obtain the annulment led to his being charged with treason and executed and thus, with the clergy suitably intimidated, Thomas Cranmer became Archbishop. Henry and Cranmer proceeded with the divorce, ignoring Rome's instructions. This in turn led to the Pope recalling the papal nuncio and ex-communicating Thomas Cranmer and Henry, as well as breaking off diplomatic relations with England. In 1534 Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, proclaiming Henry to be Supreme Head of the Church in England (NOT the Church OF England, Henry still considered himself very much a Catholic).

Henry's dissolution of the monasteries (1536 - 1540) began two years AFTER the break with Rome and was not, as the writer claims, due to his belief that they were "becoming dens of corruption and power and betraying the Lord's name in whom [sic] they were set up" but in order to give their land to loyal supporters of his and create a landed gentry beholding to the Crown He also intended to use the undeniable wealth of the monasteries to replenish his own coffers, which were depleted after years of extravagance.

Nor is it true that "His subjects were almost rioting in the streets because of the problems there and the money that the monasteries extorted from the faithful, much to the demise of ordinary people and much to the amassed [sic] grandeur, power and wealth of the monasteries". In fact Henry alienated many poor, loyal, pious subjects who believed in the rituals and depended on the monasteries for religious devotions. It was the dissolution that led to an uprising in the north of the country AGAINST Henry, known as the Pilgrimage of Grace, 1536-1537, where around 30,000 rebels led by Robert Aske, along with a large part of the nobility, marched on London. When Aske entered London to negotiate terms he was arrested, charged with treason and executed.

Finally the Book of Common Prayer was not introduced until 1549 - two years after the death of Henry VIII. A revised edition was prepared in 1552, which was never used, due to Edward VI's untimely death and his sister Mary's restoration of Catholicism. A third, compromise edition of The Book of Common Prayer was prepared in 1559, based largely on the 1552 version with a few elements from 1549. The earliest English-language service book of the Church of England was in fact the Exhortation and Littany, published in 1544, still more than 10 years after Henry's split with Rome.

Whilst it is true that during Mary's Reign 286 so-called heretics died during the Marian persecutions, at least 30 in prison and the rest at the stake (including, ironically, John Rogers, a bible editor and royal chaplain, who advocated burning heretics, arguing that it was "sufficiently mild" for a crime as grave as heresy), let us not forget, that it was Parliament, and not Mary, who reinstated the heresy laws and that historical records show that the trials took place in open court and adhered to strict legal protocol.

He wanted a divorce from his wife because she would not bear him a son. The Pope declined the divorce (annulment) request. So, he broke away and formed what is now the Anglican Church.

England became a part of the reformation more through politics than theological debate. King Henry VIII (1509-47) needed an heir to the throne and with his wife was unable to produce one. The Pope would not grant a divorce and so Henry convinced Parliament to declare him head of the Church in England. Henry's daughter, Mary Tudor was a staunch Catholic and persecuted the Protestants. When Henry's other daughter, Elizabeth, inherited the throne, she tolerated the Protestants just enough so as not to irritate the Pope. When the English fleet defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588, the Anglican Church permanently replaced the Catholic one in England.

(Below is an excerpt from the biography of Henry VIII)

In 1534 Henry VIII was declared head of the English Church. People had to swear an oath that in future they would obey Henry as head of the church. More refused and he was convicted of high treason. Still refusing to recant, he was executed at the Tower of London on 6 July 1535.

The Pope and the Catholic church in Rome were horrified when they heard the news that Henry had destroyed St. Thomas Becket's Shrine. On 17 December 1538, the Pope announced to the Christian world that Henry VIII had been excommunicated from the Catholic church.

He wanted a son, his wife could not give him children, so he asked for a annulment, the Pope, making no exceptions, denied his request, shortly after England became a Non-Catholic Country.
Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife, and marry Ann Boleyn. The Catholic church forbids divorce, so Henry VIII broke away in order to divorce and marry her.

Answer 6

The Anglicans split from the Catholic Church when Henry VIII declared himself to be head of the Church of England. The pope had refused his request to have his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled so he named himself head of the Church and approved his own divorce.

Answer 7

If I was taught aright at Uni, the Church in England did not separate from the Roman Church. It was the Pope in Elizabeth's time who broke off Communion with the Church in England.

Roman Catholic AnswerBecause King Henry the VIII wanted an annulment so he could marry someone else so that he could have a male heir. As he was already validly married, the Pope denied his request. In his vanity, he listened to some advisers who were protestant leaning, so Henry broke with Rome and declared himself head of the church, appointed new bishops who would grant him a divorce, thus plunging England into hundreds of years of heresy and depriving his people of the sacraments.
The king of England wanted to divorce Catherine of Aragon, his first wife, in order to marry Anne Boleyn. Catherine could not give him the necessary male heir. The Pope would not grant him a divorce so he set himself up as the "pope" of his own church, the Church of England.

Answer 8

It wasn't a split, Henry VIII, and his children outlawed the Church in England, and made up their own protestant church. The main reason was Henry VIII's obsession with having a legitimate male heir.

Answer 9

Henry the 8th wanted to divorce his wife but the Pope wouldn't let him do this. So King Henry broke away and founded the Church of England which he was the head of.