WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND QUEEN ELIZABETH II’s ANGLICAN CHURCH?

Charles Belmonte Lopez

What are the differences between the Catholic Church and Queen Elizabeth II’s Anglicans?

Queen Elizabeth II, who died this Thursday, September 8, on the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, was the supreme ruler of the Anglican Church, which broke away from the Catholic Church because of differences based on interests.

1. The origin of the name

Until the beginning of the 16th century, the Anglican Church or English Church was a denomination within the Catholic Church to refer to the English faithful, just as we now speak of the Catholic Church in the United States or Argentina. Therefore, it depended on Rome and the Pope.

2. The foundation

At the beginning of the 16th century, the King of England was Henry VIII, who wanted to separate from his wife, the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon.

Henry VIII had several children with Catherine, but only his daughter Mary survived. After a long process of nullity, the Pope determined that the marriage of the English King was valid.

Far from waiting and obeying the Pope’s decision, Henry married Anne Boleyn. Following the Pontiff’s response, in 1534, the King lobbied Parliament to be declared supreme head of the English Church.

In this way a schism originated, and the Anglican Church arose as an institution independent of Rome.

The Catholic Church, on the other hand, was founded by Christ himself and based on the foundation of Peter, Bishop of Rome, and the Holy Apostles. For this reason, it is called Holy, One, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman.

3. The Head

The first head of the Anglican Church was Henry VIII, and the succession of this primacy has been given among subsequent kings and queens of England, Queen Elizabeth II being the last. Now her son, King Charles III would become the new head.

For Catholics, the first Pope was St. Peter and has had an uninterrupted succession until the current Pope Francis.

4. Doctrine

Anglicans have had several stages of change in their doctrine. At the beginning their beliefs were quite similar to those of Catholicism, except for fidelity to the Pope.

However, due to the interests of the kings, the Protestant influence and the cultural changes of the last years, the Anglican doctrine has changed according to the fashions.

Today, for example, the ordination of women as priests and bishops is admitted. Moreover, in July of this year, they have affirmed that there is “no official definition” of what a woman is.

Catholicism, on the other hand, has maintained a single doctrine since the first centuries of Christianity, in which women “priests” are not admitted.

For former Anglican minister and now Catholic William Johnstone “in the Anglican Church the priesthood is something more like a job or a career than a calling or vocation, so as men and women can do the same jobs, from the Anglican perspective they can also be priests”.

5. Those who leave

In recent decades several Anglican laity and ministers have left the Anglican Church and joined the Catholic Church.

So much so that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, in 2009, published the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus, in which he established the way in which Anglicans can enter the full communion of the Catholic Church.

In addition, deacons, priests and bishops who leave Anglicanism can be ordained priests in the Catholic Church.

It should be mentioned that Gavin Ashenden, former Anglican bishop and former chaplain to the late Queen of England Elizabeth II, was also received into the Catholic Church in 2019.

Source:

 Lopez, C. (2022, September 10). What are the differences between the Catholic Church and Queen Elizabeth II’s Anglicans? Retrieved from The Splendor of the Church: http://thesplendorofthechurch.com/2022/09/10/what-are-the-differences-between-the-catholic-church-and-queen-elizabeth-iis-anglican-church/