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Why did John Henry Newman believe Protestant churches represented a break in Christian development?

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St. John Henry Newman English prelate, theologian, and poet John Henry Newman converted to Roman Catholicism in 1845. He was made a cardinal in 1879.

John Henry Newman believed that Protestant churches represented a break in Christian development because he viewed the history of the faith through the lens of organic growth, which he termed the "development of an idea" in his Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine.12

Newman applied the law of historical development to Christian society, concluding that the early, undivided church had matured rightly into the modern Roman Catholic Church. In contrast, he argued that the Protestant churches constituted a rupture in this continuity, both in terms of doctrine and devotion.2

While the Protestant reformers of the 16th century sought to return to Scripture to address what they perceived as "corruptions" or false developments within the Western church, Newman maintained that true development involves the maturation of an idea where the ultimate shape remains consistent with its origins. By rejecting this historical progression, he believed Protestantism severed the vital link to the apostolic tradition, leading him to convert to Roman Catholicism in 1845.12