00:00Something wild just went down in Rome. It involved the Pope,
00:05Brother, Sister, where are you?
00:09King of England.
00:10This unique and important occasion.
00:13And believe it or not, a man who once tried to blow up the British Parliament.
00:17Remember, remember the 5th of November, the gunpowder, treason and plot.
00:24If that mix sounds insane already, stay till the end.
00:27This is the story of one of the strangest fallouts and reunions in modern history.
00:331500 years ago, England's church was part of the Catholic Church under the Pope in Rome.
00:38In 597 CE, that's what, 1500 years back, Pope Gregory sent a missionary, Augustine, to Christianise England.
00:46He became the first Archbishop of Canterbury and for centuries England prayed under Rome's guidance.
00:52Then came the drama.
00:53King Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife, Catherine of Aragon.
00:56The Pope said no partly because Catherine's nephew, Emperor Charles V, was one of Europe's most powerful rulers.
01:02So Henry broke up with Rome.
01:04He created the Church of England and made himself its head.
01:07His children turned faith into a family feud.
01:10His son, Edward VI, pushed Protestantism.
01:13His daughter, Mary, won a fierce Catholic, reversed it and burned Protestants alive, earning the nickname Bloody Mary.
01:20Then came Elizabeth I, who brought Protestant rule, blended in a few Catholic rituals and got excommunicated by the Pope.
01:28From then on, England and Rome were like cousins who stopped talking.
01:31In 1605, a Catholic soldier named Guy Fawkes tried to blow up Parliament and kill the Protestant King James I, the famous gunpowder plot.
01:39I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.
01:45It failed.
01:46The divide deepened.
01:48Then, the 1701 Act of Settlement barred Catholics or anyone married to one from inheriting the throne.
01:54Faith and politics were now welded together.
01:57Centuries passed.
01:58The hatred cooled.
01:59By the 1900s, the two sides began talking again.
02:02Ambassadors were exchanged.
02:04Popes met British monarchs.
02:06In 1982, Pope John Paul II became the first Pontiff to visit England in over 400 years.
02:12In 2013, Britain even allowed royal heirs to marry Catholics, though the monarch must still be Anglican.
02:18And now, when King Charles III stood quietly beside Pope Leo under Michelangelo's frescoes, it was not just a ceremony.
02:25Five centuries ago, a king stormed out of the church.
02:29Today, another king stepped back in.
02:31Not to rewrite history, but to finally make peace with it.
02:34I'm Manishya Dikari.
02:35Thank you for watching The Culture Project on Mo.
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