Actually, the Lutheran Church did not technically "break off" from the Catholic Church. The Lutheran Church was made up out of whole cloth by the princes of northern Germany in 1517, I believe.
.Catholic AnswerThe Lutheran Ecclesial Community did not "break away" from the Catholic Church. It was founded by Martin Luther, a heretic who left the Catholic Church in the sixteenth century and was excommunicated.
Because he was the first Catholic priest to break away from the Catholic Church, and eventually he translated the Latin Bible into German, hence starting the Lutheran religion, which was the first Protestant religion to break away from the Catholic Church
His followers. I have been raised Lutheran and I have learned that Martin Luther's original intentions were not at all to break with the Catholic church, he in fact encouraged his followers not to break from the church, he just wanted to change the corruptness of it and focus more on the Bible. The way I understand it to be is that Martin Luther's followers (not Martin Luther, it was after his death) broke from the Catholic church because they recognized the strength of the church itself and were insulted by the fact that the Catholic church excommunicated Luther.
Christians did not break away from the Catholic Church, they remained Christians, protestants broke away from the Catholic Church in the 16th century.
He was Catholic, although his actions may define him as the first Protestant.Martin Luther was a Catholic, an Augustinian monk in fact, until his theological division with the teachings of the Catholic Church led him to break with it and found his own. There is somewhat of a controversy as to whether he considered he truly broke from the Church or if he considered himself to be Catholic though in opposition to the pope or whether he saw himself as founding a new church, which is now known as the Lutheran church.
No king has ever replaced a pope as head of the Catholic Church. Henry VIII did break from the Catholic Church and formed what is the Church of England but which is not a Catholic Church as it is not in union with Rome.
No, Thomas Aquinas was one of the greatest theologians and saints of the Catholic Church.
Roman Catholic AnswerHenry VIII did not break with the Catholic Church for money.
No, The Roman Catholic Church is the original Catholic Church. The Orthodox Church is not a "break-away" church. The only churches that broke away are the "Protestant" Churches. God be with you! If by 'original Catholic' you mean the original church founded by Jesus Christ and His Apostles, then most certainly yes, although there are some common beliefs.
The Great Schism
The Church of England did not break away from the Eastern Orthodox Church, it broke from the Roman Catholic Church in 1534.
Seeing as there is no break in historical continuity between the early Church and the Catholic Church, the symbol that applied to the early Church by definition represents the Catholic Church.