I have no patience for anti-Catholic ignorance today.
(Key term: Heliocentric - Earth revolves around Sun. The previous held view was Geocentric - Sun revolves around the Earth)
Galileo wasn’t the first person to posit the theory of heliocentricity. In fact, Galileo’s work was built on the work of a dude named Copernicus
Copernicus’ most famous work, On the Revolution of the Celestial Orbs, in which he gave an excellent account of heliocentricity, was dedicated to Pope Paul III, for (st.) pete’s sake!
So needless to say, the Church did not take issue with the heliocentric worldview - it took issue with Galileo saying that a heliocentric worldview was contrary to scripture. It was not. This propagation of a false dichotomy would have caused crisis in the Church due to people believing they needed to choose between believing in reason/science and their faith. The Church and science have always been bros - they are both truth, so there is no conflict.
If Galileo had stuck to being a scientist and not taken it upon himself to interpret scripture, the Church would have embraced him and his work.
Another issue the Church had with Galileo was that he stated that the heliocentric worldview was fact before he had proof. The Church thought that was highly irresponsible as a scientist. Therefore, for these two reasons, it banned Galileo speaking/publishing on the subject.
GALILEO OBEYED THE CHURCH AND EVERYTHING WAS COOL FOR A WHILE
The new head honcho Pope Urban VIII, a lifelong friend of Galileo, said that G could publish on the subject again, but only to discuss it as a theory, not a fact (remember, no one had proof of heliocentrism at the time) and just present arguments both for and against it.
It could not have gone worse: “When Galileo wrote the Dialogue on the Two World Systems, he used an argument the pope had offered, and placed it in the mouth of his character Simplicio. Galileo, perhaps inadvertently, made fun of the pope, a result that could only have disastrous consequences. Urban felt mocked and could not believe how his friend could disgrace him publicly. Galileo had mocked the very person he needed as a benefactor. He also alienated his long-time supporters, the Jesuits, with attacks on one of their astronomers. The result was the infamous trial, which is still heralded as the final separation of science and religion.” (x)
The trial was to determine if Galileo had broken the previous agreement to refrain from presenting heliocentrism as prooven fact and as contrary to scripture, NOT (as anti-Catholics love to claim) to say “stop it with your science stuff, it threatens our Church.” Galileo said he did not violate the agreement, but the trial ruled that he did, and thus Galileo’s penance was house arrest.
P.S. You know how you always hear that Galileo was “tortured” and stuff? Well that would be kind of hard to hide from Galileo’s friend Nicolini, Tuscan ambassador to the Vatican, who was responsible for overseeing Galileo’s “imprisonment” in his own home with servants and every convenience at his beck and call. Even an anti-Catholic historian of the time, Giorgio de Santillana, said he “admired (the Church’s) scruples” in the matter (as in, their fairness and fair treatment of G). Nevertheless, the Church has subsequently apologized for certain aspects of the trial and ruling.
Sources and further reading: (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)
You know what the annoying thing is though? I spent days researching and compiling this post, and I’m certain it will be unseen, ignored, or dismissed by those who don’t know what really happened. Prejudice against the Catholic Church is the only remaining socially acceptable prejudice.
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