It was probably the most comfortable house arrest in history.
Yeah, after they very nearly burnt him to death, they generously agreed to keep him fed while locking him up for life. Bleeding hearts that they were.
While history has shown his theory to be correct, it is for the wrong reason. Copernicus was wrong on the parallax shifts and if they had better instrumentation he would have seen the shifts. So in a way both sides were correct at the time. The heliocentric model was correct, although that was never really disputed, but the Church was correct in that it failed the rigors of scientific proof.
BS, BS, and more BS.
From the original Papal Condemnation of Galileo:
"We say, pronounce, sentence, and declare that you, the said Galileo, by reason of the matters adduced in trial, and by you confessed as above, have rendered yourself in the judgment of this Holy Office vehemently suspected of heresy, namely, of having believed and held the doctrine—which is false and contrary to the sacred and divine Scriptures—that the Sun is the center of the world and does not move from east to west and that the Earth moves and is not the center of the world; and that an opinion may be held and defended as probably after it has been declared and defined to be contrary to the Holy Scripture; and that consequently you have incurred all the censures and penalties imposed and promulgated in the sacred canons and other constitutions, general and particular, against such delinquents."
By its own admission, the Church condemned Galileo for one single reason: he kept telling people that the Earth moves around he Sun.
You know these people who insist that the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery - even after you show them the original declarations of secession? Same difference.
