I don't think Copernicus wanted to deceive anyone.
I reckon his hand was forced & they made him into this guy who would became responsible for Heliocentricism.
At about 1532, Copernicus had basically completed his work on the manuscript of
Dē revolutionibus orbium coelestium; but despite urging by his closest friends, he resisted openly publishing his views, not wishing—as he confessed—to risk the scorn "to which he would expose himself on account of the novelty and incomprehensibility of his theses.
Toward the close of 1542, Copernicus was seized with
apoplexy and paralysis, and he died at age 70 on 24 May 1543. Legend has it that he was presented with the final printed pages of his
Dē revolutionibus orbium coelestium on the very day that he died, allowing him to take farewell of his life's work.
[q] He is reputed to have awoken from a stroke-induced coma, looked at his book, and then died peacefully.
De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium was published in
1543. The first edition of this work by Nicolaus Copernicus was printed in Nuremberg, Germany, shortly before his death. Copernicus died in May 1543.
en.wikipedia.org