This second act abolished eighteen statutes of Henry VIII and one of Edward VI, but it refused to restore the church lands.

The fate of the confiscated ecclesiastical property was one of the greatest obstacles, if not the greatest, in the path of reconciliation with Rome.

The pope at first insisted upon it, and Pole was deeply grieved at being obliged to absolve sinners who kept the fruits of their sins.
But the English, as the Spanish ambassador Renard wrote, "would rather get themselves massacred than let go" the abbey lands.

The very Statute of Repeal, therefore, that in other respects met Mary's demands, carefully guarded the titles to the secularized lands, making all suits relating to them triable only in crown courts.
The second point on which Parliament, truly representing a large section of public opinion, was obstinate, was in the refusal to recognize the papal supremacy.

The people as a whole cared not what dogma they were supposed to believe, but they for the most part cordially hated the pope.