[xzins]

The Anglicans split from Rome more than four centuries ago when King Henry VIII bolted in 1534 over the pope's refusal to grant him an annulment. Catholics and Anglicans have been engaged in talks to overcome theological divisions for 35 years.

This is wrong. After Henry, his daughter Mary assumed the throne, and she returned the Catholic church to its former position. After her death, it was Elizabeth I who actually led England out of Catholicism and smack into the Reformation for good.

[AnAmericanMother]

I would add that all Henry did was install himself as head of the church; it was his son Edward (led around by the nose by his radical Protestant advisers) that made the real substantive changes to the church in England.

I would also note that it was Mary's high-handed actions (and more particularly her disastrous marriage to Philip II of Spain) that ensured that Elizabeth I had no choice but to restore the English church. Mary entered her reign with a tremendous reservoir of goodwill from the English people (not to mention a contrast with the bigoted and venal reign of Seymour, Edward's principal adviser), but she squandered it. If she had been more politic and discreet, England would probably still be Catholic today.