This does a wonderful job of clarifying and summing up Henry's approach to religion. Unsurprisingly, as with most every aspect of Henry's life, it all came down to what worked for Henry.
True! The Roman Catholic Church was horribly corrupt and the pope should have granted Henry and annulment because they granted them all the time.. the reason that the pope didn't want to Grant Henry and Catherine of Aragon an annulment was because by the time Henry wanted them to separate because they hadn't had a male Heir live past the month old, & Henry honestly thought that he was damned by God because he married his brother's wife even though Catherine said they had never consummated the marriage in the five months before Arthur died. True perhaps and I'm sure Catherine was honest but Henry was chasing Anne Boleyn and and didn't even like him for years. The kings were the ones that had to allow people to get married and Anne Boleyn was engaged to Henry Percy and Henry had that broken up. There was no way Ann was ever going to get married unless she married King Henry . Henry started obsessing over her around 1425 and she didn't grow to start having feelings for him for probably three to four years.
That's interesting that one of the academics states that Henry did not believe in purgatory, I'm sure in his will he wanted masses said for his soul. I'm maybe wrong though but I'm sure I read that.
He was reallly a Catholic!! He separated from the Catholic church because he wouldn't be granted an annulment from Catherine of Aragon even though many kings were given annulments at the time.. the reason the pope wouldn't Grant Henry an annulment was because Catherine of Aragon's nephew, Charles V, was the King of Spain and had just gotten appointed as the Holy Roman Emperor when I was 20 years old. Catherine of Aragon was around 40 or a little over 40 at the time, & she was unable to bear any more children... she had a lot of miscarriages and one baby died add about a month of age and it was a boy. The pope was really in the wrong not granting Henry the 8th and annulment because he was fearful of King Charles. it was really a political issue & King Henry should not have ever married his brother's wife to begin with even if they were only married for 5 months and had allegedly not consummated the marriage before Arthur's death. Henry and Catherine fell in love and the pope at the time granted them the okay to go ahead and get married because Catherine had claimed she in Arthur never consummated their marriage before he died. The whole thing was really political. Sadly, by the pope not allowing that annulment, it led to a lot of Slaughter in England. Back at that time the Roman Catholic Church was terribly corrupt anyway and many people were joining in on the Protestant Reformation.
