Henry VIII was the first monarch to introduce a new state religion to the English. In 1532, he wanted to have his marriage to his wife, Catherine of Aragon, annulled. When Pope Clement VII refused to consent to the annulment, Henry VIII decided to separate the entire country of England from the Roman Catholic Church.
In 1534, King Henry VIII broke away from the Roman Catholic faith and created the Protestant Church of England (also called the Anglican Church). Henry established the Anglican faith as the official religion of England and made himself and future English monarchs head of the church.
Protestant reform in England began with Henry VIII in 1534 because the Pope would not grant him a marriage annulment.
Christianity is the largest religion in England, with the Church of England being the nation's established state church, whose supreme governor is the monarch. Other Christian traditions in England include Roman Catholicism, Methodism and the Baptists.
Church of England History
The Church of England's earliest origins date back to the Roman Catholic Church's influence in Europe during the 2nd century. However, the church's official formation and identity are typically thought to have started during the Reformation in England of the 16th century.
Under Queen Mary I, in 1553, the fractured and discordant English Church was linked again to continental Catholicism and the See of Rome through the doctrinal and liturgical initiatives of Reginald Pole and other Catholic reformers. Mary was determined to return the whole of England to the Catholic faith.
English anti-Catholicism was grounded in the fear that the Pope sought to reimpose not just religio-spiritual authority but also secular power over England, a view which was vindicated by hostile actions of the Vatican.
Contrary to popular belief, the royal family is not Catholic. We repeat, they are not Catholic. The royals are in fact the head of the Church of England, which is a Protestant Anglican church, and they've been a part of this religion since the 16th century.
THE OLD ORDER
But when Henry declared himself Supreme Head of the Church in England in 1533, following the Pope's refusal to sanction his divorce from Katherine of Aragon, his decision initiated the Reformation of English religion.
In 1534 however, Henry pushed through the Act of Supremacy. The Act made him, and all of his heirs, Supreme Head of the Church of England. This meant that the Pope no longer held religious authority in England, and Henry was free to divorce Catherine.
The Catholic Relief Act of 1791 was a much broader measure which gave Catholics freedom to worship. It also removed a wide range of other restrictions and allowed Catholics their own schools, to hold junior public offices, and to live in London.
The Catholic Mass became illegal in England in 1559, under Queen Elizabeth I's Act of Uniformity. Thereafter Catholic observance became a furtive and dangerous affair, with heavy penalties levied on those, known as recusants, who refused to attend Anglican church services.
“Baby boomers lost their religion in the 1960s and raised their millennial children to be non-religious. That's why the number ticking 'Christian' on the census has dropped as older people die out and younger people select the category of 'non religion'.”
1553: Queen Mary I reversed this decision when she restored Roman Catholicism as the state religion, and the Pope became head of the church once again. 1559: Queen Elizabeth wished to create a new moderate religious settlement derived from Henry VIII's break from Rome. She established the Church of England in 1559.
Both children were brought up in their father's Roman Catholic faith, particularly during the lifetime of their paternal grandmother Ann Parker Bowles; Camilla remained an Anglican and did not convert to Roman Catholicism.
In Sunni Islamic reports of al-Tabari and al-Masudi, Elizabeth is said to have been a daughter of Imran, and thus, a sister of Mary. Therefore, their children Jesus (Isa) and John (Yahya) are believed to have been cousins.
Roman Catholics can marry in
In a decree in 1701, members of the royal family were not permitted to enter into marriage with Roman Catholics. The monarch of the family is the de facto head of the Church of England, which is Protestant in nature.
A Roman Catholic is specifically excluded from succession to the throne. The Sovereign must, in addition, be in communion with the Church of England and must swear to preserve the established Church of England and the established Church of Scotland.
After being firmly established in Scotland for nearly a millennium, the Catholic Church was outlawed following the Scottish Reformation in 1560.
* SOME NUMBERS
-- Around 5.2 million Catholics live in England and Wales, or around 9.6 percent of the population there, and nearly 700,000 in Scotland, or around 14 percent. Catholics in Northern Ireland come under the Catholic Church in all Ireland.
Christianity, the largest religion in the United States, experienced a 20th-century high of 91% of the total population in 1976. This declined to 73.7% by 2016 and 64% in 2022.
Other studies such as the British Social Attitudes survey have consistently reported even lower levels of religious commitment, and the 37% of the population saying they have no religion in the 2021 census is significantly lower than the 50% registered in some other reports.
Studies in the 21st century suggest that, in terms of percentage and worldwide spread, Islam is the fastest-growing major religion in the world.