Germany was shaken to its centre by Protestantism, and the reign of Charles V.was to be spent in ineffectual conflict with the Reformation, which would ultimately tear the Empire asunder.
The new heresy had found congenial soil in France.

England was openly and avowedly Protestant, while Spain and Italy remained unchangeably Catholic.
For Francis, destined to spend his life in fruitless contest with the more able, wily, and astute Charles V., the religious question upon which Europe was divided meant nothing except at he could use it in his duel with the emperor.

He was in turn the ally of Henry VIII.

or the willing tool of Charles V.

If he needed the English king's friendship, the Protestants had protection.