WHY did henry v111 break from the Roman Catholic Church? In 1536 Henry vIII broke from the Roman Catholic Church. There are many different reasons why he broke from the church; some main reasons are economics, religion and politics. In this essay these three concepts will be explained in more detail. The first reason was economics. At a time during the year of 1536 Henry was in the median of fighting a war against France. The war was an expense and Henry had run out of money.Henry was told he could be head of the church and owning the church meant he could have their money to help through the war. At this time the church was very rich and owned about a quarter of Britain’s land. On this occasion henry was desperate for money and set his mind to this. The second reason was religion. Martin Luther and the Protestants thought that the Catholic Church was run by priests who cared to much about wealth rather than religion. The Protestants also said people shouldn’t follow the pope but should follow the bible instead. People thought henry had changed for good and for really believing in what martin Luther said. The last reason was politics. It all started when henry wanted a son, he married Catherine of Aragon but she gave him a daughter later they then found out that Catherine could not have any more children, henry decided to divorce Catherine and marry his pregnant mistress.as this was forbidden the pope refused. Henry desperate now