He most likely arrived in England in 1527, but his influence was not documented until November 1528. Pole returned home in July 1526, when he came from France, escorted by Thomas Lupset. He lived in John Colet's former house at Sheen for a portion of the time he was living in England. After being sent to Paris in October 1529, Pole returned home in the summer of 1530. He was declared dean just four days later. On 25 July 1527, Pole was presented to a canonry in Exeter Cathedral.

He was admitted to the prebend of Knaresborough in York Minster on 22 April 1527. On 10 April 1526, before he left Padua, Henry, Lord Montagu, his brother, presented him to the living of South Harting, Sussex. This allowed him to study abroad for three years.

Pole's studies in Padua were partly financed by his election as a fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, with more than half of the cost paid by Henry VIII himself on 14 February 1523. The last three were eventually condemned as heretics by the Catholic Church, with Vermigli-as a well-known Protestant theologian-having a significant share in the Reformation in Pole's native England. The University of Padua is where he met leading Renaissance figures, including Pietro Bembo, Gianmatteo Giberti (formerly Pope Leo X's datary and chief minister), Jacopo Sadoleto, Gianpietro Carafa (the future Pope Paul IV), Rodolfo Pio, Otto Truchsess, Stanislaus Hosius, Cristoforo Madruzzo, Giovanni Morone, Pier Paolo Vergerio the younger, Peter Martyr Vermigli and Vettor Soranzo. In 1521, Pole went to the University of Padua with a £100 stipend from King Henry VIII. Assisted by Bishop Edward Foxe, he represented Henry VIII in Paris in 1529, researching general opinions among theologians of the Sorbonne about the annulment of Henry's marriage with Catherine of Aragon. He was also a canon in York, and had several other livings, although he had not been ordained a priest. On 19 March 1518 he was collated to the prebend of Ruscombe Southbury, Salisbury, only to exchange it on 10 April 1519 for Yetminster secunda. In February 1518, King Henry VIII granted him the deanery of Wimborne Minster, Dorset after which he was Prebendary of Salisbury and Dean of Exeter in 1527. Pole graduated with a BA degree on 27 June 1515. In 1512, Henry VIII paid him a pension of £12 and repeated the pension in the following year, which was meant to go towards his education. Shortly after he matriculated at Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1512, and at Oxford was taught by William Latimer, his principal tutor, and Thomas Linacre, who may have taught him between 15. Pole received his early education at either Sheen Priory, Christ Church or Canterbury. His maternal grandparents were George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, and Isabella Neville, Duchess of Clarence thus he was a great-nephew of kings Edward IV and Richard III and a great-grandson of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick. He was named after the now Blessed Reginald of Orleans, O.P. Pole was born at Stourton Castle, Staffordshire, on 12 March 1500, the third son of Sir Richard Pole and Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury.

Reginald Pole (12 March 1500 – 17 November 1558) was an English cardinal of the Catholic Church and the last Catholic archbishop of Canterbury, holding the office from 1556 to 1558, during the Counter-Reformation.

Reggy pope