How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from A Man for All Seasons.
Quote #1
WOLSEY: God's death, he means it. That thing out there, at least she's fertile.
MORE: But she's not his wife.
WOLSEY: No, Catherine's his wife... and she's barren as a brick. Are you going to pray for a miracle?
MORE: There are precedents.
Henry wants to marry Anne Boleyn (whom Wolsey derisively calls "that thing") because she's presumably fertile. He needs to produce a male heir to prevent civil war. It's a pretty practical reason to want a divorce and a remarriage. But More thinks that the power of prayer is the only valid solution, since the Church won't grant the divorce. He's treating marriage as a sacrament rather than as a practical solution to problems of state.
Quote #2
KING: […] Thomas, you must consider. I stand in peril of my soul. It was no marriage. I have lived in incest with my brother's widow. Leviticus: "Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother's wife." Leviticus: Chapter 18, Verse 16.
MORE: Yes, Your Grace, but Deuteronomy…
KING: Deuteronomy is ambiguous.
MORE: Your Grace, I'm not fitted to meddle in these matters. To me, it seems a matter for the Holy See.
The king insists that he's more competent to interpret the Bible than the Church is—and he's probably sincere in this belief. But, to Thomas, it's simply unacceptable.
Quote #3
KING: Oh, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas. Does a man need a pope to tell him where he's sinned? It was a sin. God's punished me. I've no son. Son after son she's borne me. All dead at birth, or dead within the month. I never saw the hand of God so clear in anything. It's my bounden duty to put away the Queen. And all the popes, back to Peter, shall not come between me and my duty! How is it that you cannot see? Everyone else does.
The king thinks God has shown him something directly, thus rendering the Pope's opinion irrelevant. But in Thomas' eyes, the Pope is the direct spiritual descendant of St. Peter, and his authority on these matters is final. The king is stepping out of his role as a secular authority and into the spiritual realm—the deeper, underlying issue that Thomas can't accept.