What led King Henry VIII of England to defy the Catholic church?

Answer 1

King Henry VIII asked the Pope for a divorce form his first wife, Catherine or Aragon, so that he could marry Anne Boleyn. When the Pope refused, Henry broke away from the Catholic Church, divorced Catherine, and formed the Church of England.

Henry didn't challenge the Catholic Church, he simply took a stand on a principle that had been discussed for some 1500 years. That is the question of the Pope's authority, where did the magisterium , or authority, lie within the Catholic Church, the Body of Christ here on earth.

In the early Church authority had been passed from the apostles to the college of bishops, for five hundred years the road had been clear, but slowly over the last centuries, authority had ben slipping in to the hands of the papacy?

Was it genuine? For two or three hundred years it had been discussed acutely, in General Councils and Colleges all over Europe. Henry had made his point that in his opinion, the canons of the Ecumenical Councils,[Nice 6,] still held good. He believed in the Ecumenical Councils when he and the English Church made their point that ," "The Bishop of Rome hath not by Scripture any greater authority over the Church of England than any other Bishop."

That was the challenge posed to the Catholic Church by Henry and the Church in England, was the Church in Western Europe to be abandoned to the medieval accretions seized on and promoted by the papacy, or were the old ways of the apostolic age to be preserved for posterity?

Answer 2

King Henry VIII desired to divorce his wife, Catherine of Aragon, because she had failed to produce a male heir to the throne. The Roman Catholic Church did not allow nor recognize divorce, holding that marriage was for life. Henry requested a special Papal Dispensation that would allow him to divorce, without setting a precedent for future divorces, and marry his mistress- Anne Boleyn. Pope Clement VII refused. Henry married his mistress anyway and renounced Catholicism.

He removed England from the Pope's control, seized many of the Church's assets and declared himself to be the head of the Church. Henry's repudiation of papal authority led to the Church of England's existence as a separate entity: a new branch of the Christian Church that was neither Catholic nor Protestant but a hybrid that became known as the Anglican Church or the Church of England. It became official in 1536. Henry funded the first printing of The Bible in English to spite the Pope.

Answer 3

he wanted to divorce catherine to marry anne, and when the pope said he couldn't henry decided he wanted power over that type of thing and created his own church.