Galileo

"Therefore . . . , invoking the most holy name of our Lord Jesus Christ and of His Most Glorious Mother Mary, We pronounce this Our final sentence: We pronounce, judge, and declare, that you, the said Galileo . . . have rendered yourself vehemently suspected by this Holy Office of heresy... it is Our pleasure that you be absolved, provided that with a sincere heart and unfeigned faith, in Our presence, you abjure, curse, and detest, the said error and heresies, and every other error and heresy contrary to the Catholic and Apostolic Church of Rome."

In the final case against Galileo Galilei, the father of physics, philosophy, astronomy and astrology, the Church found him guilty of heresy and his works were denounced. Galileo's beliefs and discoveries were the cause of the accusations against him, and the reason he had to abjure his "heresies". For a period of time, Galileo was able to continue his studies; however he was not able to reconcile his religion with his church, and ended his denounced research. Although Galileo did not live to see his work utilized, he was ultimately credited.

Galileo was a religious man; however his beliefs were not limited to religion, but expanded into the science world, and Galileo's beliefs got him in the most trouble with the church. Galileo was a devout catholic. Born in 1564, he began his education as a medical student, but soon realized that his true passion did not lie in medicine. He instead began researching astrology. A scientist named Copernicus had a theory that caught the attention of Galileo. At the time, the belief was that the sun revolved around the Earth, and Earth was the center of the universe. The Copernican Theory presented the idea that the Earth revolved around the sun. Galileo became involved in this theory, and was able to validate it. It was not the theory itself, but the fact that it was validated caused the church to turn its attention to the scientist. Galileo

...