When Henry VIII wanted to divorce from Catherine of Aragon, the Pope refused to divorce him. As a result, King Henry split from the Roman Catholic Church and started the Church of England. The English Parliament, through the Act of Supremacy, declared King Henry VIII to be the "Supreme Head of the Church of England" in order to fulfill the "English desire to be independent from continental Europe religiously and politically." This act said that the king, not the pope was the head of the Church of England. With this act, Henry VIII was not only free to divorce his wife and remarry, he also made England free from the interference of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church. 