The Thirty-Nine Articles were needed because at that time in English history it was not possible to find an agreement about Protestantism. Rather than have the church become divided, they needed a way to list the essentials of what the Church of England believed. John Henry Newman (one of the leading Tractarians in the mid 19th century), before he converted to Roman Catholicism, tried to show that the Articles could be seen in a way less hostile to Catholic belief.