Why did England break away from the Roman Catholic Church?

Answer 1

England broke with the Roman Catholic church in the time of King Henry VIII.He was disappointed when the Pope Clement VII denied his request of annulment to his first wife Queen Catherine of Aragon.
They broke at the time of Henry VIII.He wanted himself to become the supreme head of his newly church the Anglican.His reason was to legalize divorcement that was objected by the Roman Catholic church.

Answer 2

Roman Catholic Answer

from Radio Replies, by Fathers Rumble and Carty, 1942

1269. I was taught by my parents that the Church of England has always been a distinct Church on its own right from the second century.

Your parents apparently belonged to that school of Anglicans which refuses to admit that the church of England originated only at the time of the Protestant Reformation. Those who belong to that school of thought persuade themselves that the present Anglican Church is one and the same as the Church which was established in England by the first Christian missionaries to that country. But this theory cannot stand the test of history.

1270. You insist that is originated at the time of the Protestant Reformation?

Yes, until the Reformation, England was a Catholic country. The first missionaries preached the Catholic religion, and were as subject to the Pope as I am. Henry VIII was a Catholic, and subject to the Pope until 1534, when he rebelled against the Catholic Church, left it, and made himself head of his own new Church within his own kingdom.

1271. Is your verdict historical?

It is the normal and correct verdict of the ordinary historian who judges simply in accordance with the facts, and who has no particular ecclesiastical theory to maintain. Thus Lecky, an agnostic, in his "History of England in the Eighteenth Century." says that the church of England was founded at the Reformation as an institution most intensely and distinctively English.

1272. The Church of England, then, is not one with the pre-Reformation Church in England?

No. If it were, it would still be subject to the Pope, one with the Catholic Church throughout the world, observing the same Canon Law, offering the same Sacrifice of the Mass, and teaching the same doctrines as those held by all Catholics today, whether in Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Austria, America, Australia, India, Africa, and elsewhere throughout the world. But on all points, doctrinal, devotional, and disciplinary, the Church of England is out of harmony with the Catholic Church. Any one who believes that the religion of England for over a thousand years prior to the Reformation was correct, has no option by to leave Anglicanism and return to the Catholic Church - as I myself did.

Answer 3

Roman Catholic Answer

from the web page "History of Catholic church - renaissance and reformation" (see link below)

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 Catholics 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.

Answer 4

King Henry VIII