“His basic motivation was what he felt to be the absolute need for a legitimate male heir. “
While it is no doubt true he wished for a male heir, it was the Catholic Church favoritism of Spain over England that sealed the deal.
Henry did what he had to do to save England, and by doing so, centralized power devolved from Rome, giving rise to the nation state out of necessity.
Removing central political power from Rome was the best thing for western civilization, I don’t think many Catholics would disagree. Rome screwed themselves politically on that score, and thank goodness for it.
Actually, Rome never had all that much political power, certainly not by the time in question.
It was the very fact that Rome really wasn’t all that politically powerful that made its control over issues involving the critical succession so intolerable to many Englishmen.
Why should they submit their country’s future peace so tamely to the control of such a powerless foreign power?