It fell upon the Northumbrian king to break the tie and decide once and for all whether England would go with the Celtic Church and its more loosely organized faith in which power was spread out among all the abbots of the various monasteries, or go with the Roman Catholic Church and its tight organization and strict hierarchy of power with the pope at the top. The king went with Rome. He figured that would help connect England with the rest of Europe, which was already thoroughly Roman Catholic. Celtic Christianity receded back into Ireland and Scotland. England, from that point on, was Roman
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