Galileo Versus Catholicism
The Teaching of the Copernican Theory that Angered the Church
Despite Galileo's trail often being used as an argument against the Catholic Church, Galileo was actually a very committed Catholic.
Galileo was a devout Catholic but in his time he was condemned by the church due to his assertion that the earth revolved around the sun.
The trial of Galileo has always been used by those trying to find fault with the Catholic Church as an argument for the church being against enlightenment and scientific advancement.
Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa in 1564. In 1610 Galileo wrote a book called The Starry Messenger, which explored his theories about the moons of Jupiter, the locations of the stars and the shape of the moon. As many of his theories were in opposition to the scientific community at the time, this made him into a bit of a celebrity. Although he had once taught and believed in the preferred Catholic opinion that the earth was the centre of the universe, Galileo's research led him to start to believe and teach differently. He began to believe in the heliocentric Copernican theory that the earth revolves around the sun and turns in its own axis and that the sun is in fact the centre of our universe.
Why Did Galileo Incur the Wrath of the Church but Copernicus Didn't?
The Catholic Church was never overly happy with Nicholas Copernicus for his theory, however, Copernicus was always careful to teach his theory as just that. A theory. Galileo, an ascerbic and not entirely diplomatic man, went a bit too far in his lectures toward teaching the theory as actual fact. In doing so the Church felt that he was saying that the Bible and the Catholic Church were either ignorant or liars. To learn more about Nicholas Copernicus and his theory an excellent reference is this article.
The Challenge to Catholicism
In embracing the Copernican theory so enthusiastically, Galileo prompted accusations from his critics of heresy and before long the Church began to listen to these rumblings. Galileo's argument was that he was not questioning the Scripture as Scripture, however our interpretation of the Scripture could be wrong and it was so in our interpretation that the earth was the planet around which everything else revolved. Unfortunately in putting forward this argument he was in a no-win situation as it was tantamount to saying that high ranking Catholics and even the Pope were incapable of correctly interpreting the Bible. He further offended the Catholic Church by seeming to be preaching scripture despite not being a man of the church and because he had brought into public question the standing and teachings of the church.
In 1614, a young Dominican priest denounced Galileo from a Florence pulpit as an enemy of true religion. Although he had acted outside of his authority and later had to apologize, it did mean that the Church had to consider the situation more seriously. In 1616, after taking advice from his council of theologists, the Pope ruled that it was unacceptable and tantamount to heresy to teach the Copernican theory as fact, however he did not name or condemn Galileo. The message was conveyed to Galileo. In 1632, Galileo's book Dialogue was published. In it Galileo had written up his theories in such a style that it seemed to be written more as fact than theory despite having no acceptable proof of it. He had directly challenged the Church edict which he had earlier agreed to.
The Trial
Galileo was ordered to Rome to defend himself. When in Rome a document was found which claimed that Galileo had been ordered never to mention the Copernican theory in any form ever again despite Galileo's understanding having been that he was just not allowed to teach the theory as fact. A condemnation was signed which found Galileo suspected of heresy. Galileo's book was prohibited, he was ordered to formal imprisonment and told to publicly renounce his beliefs and perform penance.
Reference:
Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel
