- Feb 5, 2002
- 166,650
- 56,274
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Catholic
- Marital Status
- Married
- Politics
- US-Others
Didn’t the Church persecute and punish Galileo? Read the real story here.
If the Catholic Church affirms science, why was Galileo punished?
Galileo was criticized by many people when he began to publicize his research on heliocentrism, which explains how the earth revolves around the sun.
In his book Why We’re Catholic: Our Questions for Faith, Hope, and Love, Catholic Answers apologist Trent Horn describes what really happened. Citing the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Trent Horn shows that, at this point in history, the Church did not have an official position for or against heliocentrism.
Moreover, our Good Catholic Series We Believe explains how heliocentrism was first introduced by Nicholas Copernicus, a Polish scientist who may have been a priest. The Copernican model was not banned or forbidden by the Church. It had even been suggested a century prior by Nicolas of Cusa, a Catholic cardinal. Many Jesuit scholars promoted Copernicus’s ideas and sought to understand them better.
Nonetheless, when Galileo championed heliocentrism, this theory was still an unproven hypothesis at this point in history. There is no doubt that Galileo’s work has contributed greatly to the fields of astronomy and physics, but his insistence on promoting the yet-unproven heliocentric model as a fact (when it had not yet been “proven”) led to his conflict with the Church.
Continued below.
www.catholiccompany.com
If the Catholic Church affirms science, why was Galileo punished?
Galileo was criticized by many people when he began to publicize his research on heliocentrism, which explains how the earth revolves around the sun.
In his book Why We’re Catholic: Our Questions for Faith, Hope, and Love, Catholic Answers apologist Trent Horn describes what really happened. Citing the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Trent Horn shows that, at this point in history, the Church did not have an official position for or against heliocentrism.
Moreover, our Good Catholic Series We Believe explains how heliocentrism was first introduced by Nicholas Copernicus, a Polish scientist who may have been a priest. The Copernican model was not banned or forbidden by the Church. It had even been suggested a century prior by Nicolas of Cusa, a Catholic cardinal. Many Jesuit scholars promoted Copernicus’s ideas and sought to understand them better.
Nonetheless, when Galileo championed heliocentrism, this theory was still an unproven hypothesis at this point in history. There is no doubt that Galileo’s work has contributed greatly to the fields of astronomy and physics, but his insistence on promoting the yet-unproven heliocentric model as a fact (when it had not yet been “proven”) led to his conflict with the Church.
Continued below.
Did the Church Punish Galileo?
Learn the real story of Galileo Church punishment. Discover why the Church was cautious about his scientific ideas in that time.
