If the Catholic Church did not allow for divorce, why did King Henry try to get a divorce anyway? Did he plan to try and reason with the pope?

by Stranfort
mimicofmodes

There's always more that can be said, but the word "divorce", despite having been used from the beginning, is not really accurate: Henry was trying to get an annulment on the basis of his marriage having been illegal (which was denied because he'd gotten a dispensation at the time), not a divorce in the sense that we understand the word today. I have several past answers that go into this in various ways:

Henry the VIII ushered in the Reformation, all because he wanted a divorce. Since he went through all this effort, why didn't he just divorce or demote Ann Boleyn instead of executing her?

Why did Henry VIII marry “old” wives?

Why do we say that Henry divorced his wives when actually he got the marriages annulled, which is a totally different thing?