The way man viewed the universe in which he lived, the world of nature that surrounded him, and even his own physical anatomy changed right before him. Scientists, like Galileo, disproved the geocentric model as new instruments like the telescope were invented. This was a serious concern of the Church. There are many reasons why the Church cannot accept new science. First came the Geocentric model that showed the earth as being the center of the universe, the sun and other planets were shown revolving around the earth, with heaven shown beyond the crystalline shell. It wasn't until Nicholas Copernicus published his writing, "On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres," that people began to question this idea. The writing was so complicated that the vast majority of the population of Europe could not understand its meaning and ideas that it contained. This writing stated that the earth was not the center of the universe, and the sun and other planets did not revolve around it. The writing did state, however, that the earth and other planets revolved around the sun. Since very few Europeans could understand the writing, it was not considered a threat to the Catholic Church at the time. To be safe the Catholic Church did ban Copernicus' ideas.It was not until an Italian scientist named Galileo Galilei published a book and redisplayed the idea of a heliocentric universe. This time the idea was expressed using simple language, and this time the Church felt an immediate threat. “Science is the legitamate and beloved daughter of the Church. She must have confidence in the Church” (Brecht 79). Here, Bellarmin is speaking to Galileo of the threat of what he is suggesting. The Catholic Church believed that Galileo was mocking the Church-approved ideas of Ptolemy and their geocentric model. The Catholic Church sentenced Galileo to house arrest for the remainder of his life, but his ideas of a heliocentric universe remai...
