King Henry VIII's greatest obstacle in resolving the succession question was the fact that in order to divorce his wife, Queen Katharine of Aragon so that he could marry Anne Boleyn (a young lady of the court who he felt could give him a male heir), he needed to get a special dispensation from the Pope. The problem however, was that from onset, he knew that the Pope (Pope Clement VII) would not grant him a dispensation to divorce Catherine.