Henry VIII of England... defender of faith?

Question

The Pope bestowed upon Henry VIII of England, the title Defensor Fidei (Defender of the Faith). Is this title warranted or not?

All I know is that he was a devout Catholic, but when he tried to divorce Catherine, the Pope wouldn't let him or something and then he split the church by forming a new national church....

idk I'm really confused :[

Answer 1

People change their minds. Henry VIII was bestowed that title for writing a treatise in defense of Catholicism during the Reformation. So he was a devout Catholic... but later he changed his mind. Marrying Ann Boleyn was more important to him than his faith, as was money, as evident from his selling of church lands. That about sums it up. That said, he strongly resisted any strong Protestant changes to the church setup. The Anglican church remained catholic in spirit until his son's ministers pushed toward a more extreme Protestant doctrine.

Answer 2

No you got it right and essentially the doctrines of the Anglican Church during Herny VIII's lifetime never were so appart as to preclude a possible reunion.The problem was the Pope was a vitrual prisoner of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and so he could not either give his cocent for Katherine of Aragon's (Charles' first cousin) from Herny VIII or to affect a reconsiliation.It was during Henry VII's daughter Elisabeth I 's reign ("the Virgin Queen") that the real parting of the ways occured between Aglican and Roman Churches. By the way the title Defencor Fidei it is still used by the Kings and Queens of England (see a 1-pound coin if you dont believe me)

Answer 3

He got that title before the divorce controversy for writing against Martin Luther, who started the Protestant Reformation in Europe. The document he wrote was called "Declaration of the Seven Sacraments Against Martin Luther".

He had married Catherine of Aragon under a special papal dispensation: she had been married to his brother, Prince Arthur, who died young. Her marriage to Henry required some political maneuvering

Henry wanted to divorce Catherine because she failed to give him a male heir. (She had one surviving child, Mary Tudor, who was queen before Elizabeth I). He believed he had sufficient scriptural evidence to prove that her failure to provide an heir was a result of the invalidity and inherent sinfulness of their marriage. Catherine maintained that she had been a virgin at Arthur's death. She had a different view of the issue and she had the support of her nephew, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. The Pope would not grant the divorce, thus the break with Rome, or more accurately, a change in the supreme headship of the Church of England.

Many other things changed under Henry VIII, in terms of religion, such as the introduction of a sanctioned vernacular Bible and an end to clerical celibacy. This was largely the work of his bishops and clerics, especially Thomas Cranmer. Henry himself remained a catholic, in terms of faith if not politics.

Answer 4

The only thing that Henry defended was his womanizing ways. He adopted the protestant religion out of conveinence when his wife Catherine of Aragon (mother of Mary) could not give him a male heir. He went on to Anne Boylen (mother of Elizabeth I) and several others to get the boy that he wanted which was Edward who died in adolescence. I doubt very much that Henry was sincere to any church he attended.

Answer 5

Well, you have most of the basic facts there. Henry VIII was under pressure to have a MALE Heir and he wasn't getting one so his only recourse was to get another wife... the Pope didn't agree, so Henry started his own church... the Church of England.

I've always thought about this as if it was an old Mickey Rooney movie... with Henry being played by Mickey and him saying to the girl: "That's OK Ann... we can start our OWN church".

Unfortunately, it took England 100 years of so to sort the mess out.

Answer 6

Henry decided since the Pope wouldn't let him divorce and remarry, he was best off starting his own religion--the Anglican faith.

The Pope was afraid of Spain's power. England was smaller and weaker.

Answer 7

I am 99.9% sure the title was stripped from him after he was excomunicated, he wanted a divvorse the pope wouldn't grant. He did it anyway and the Pope denounced him from the catholic faith, So he declaired himself head of religion in england. But it was still the say practices of the catholics