Question:
Did catholics really believe that the sun revolved around the earth?
2010-08-11 07:29:53 UTC
Did catholics really believe that the sun revolved around the earth?
Seventeen answers:
lainiebsky
2010-08-11 07:32:06 UTC
Yes, according to what they wrote to Galileo:





"Whereas you, Galileo, son of the late Vincenzio Galilei, of Florence, aged seventy years, were denounced in 1615, to this Holy Office, for holding as true a false doctrine taught by many, namely, that the sun is immovable in the center of the world, and that the earth moves, and also with a diurnal motion; also, for having pupils whom you instructed in the same opinions; [...] also, for answering the objections which were continually produced from the Holy Scriptures, by glozing the said Scriptures according to your own meaning; and whereas thereupon was produced the copy of a writing, in form of a letter professedly written by you to a person formerly your pupil, in which, following the hypothesis of Copernicus, you include several propositions contrary to the true sense and authority of the Holy Scriptures; therefore (this Holy Tribunal being desirous of providing against the disorder and mischief which were thence proceeding and increasing to the detriment of the Holy Faith) by the desire of his Holiness and the Most Emminent Lords, Cardinals of this supreme and universal Inquisition, the two propositions of the stability of the sun, and the motion of the earth, were qualified by the Theological Qualifiers as follows:



1. The proposition that the sun is in the center of the world and immovable from its place is absurd, philosophically false, and formally heretical; because it is expressly contrary to Holy Scriptures.



2. The proposition that the earth is not the center of the world, nor immovable, but that it moves, and also with a diurnal action, is also absurd, philosophically false, and, theologically considered, at least erroneous in faith.



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, that is, of having believed and held the doctrine (which is false and contrary to the Holy and Divine Scriptures) that the sun is the center of the world, and that it does not move from east to west, and that the earth does move, and is not the center of the world; also, that an opinion can be held and supported as probable, after it has been declared and finally decreed contrary to the Holy Scripture, and, consequently, that you have incurred all the censures and penalties enjoined and promulgated in the sacred canons and other general and particular constituents against delinquents of this description. From which 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."
Rubym
2010-08-11 07:42:20 UTC
At one time, yes, but if it was after the Protestant Reformation, no doubt a lot of Protestants and others did. Most people did not study science, even those who did knew very little about space. Just wake up in the morning and look to the East, then track the sun across the sky and see it set in the west. If we didn't know better from science, wouldn't it be logical to assume the sun moved around the earth rather than the other way around?



While the Catholic Church enforced the belief, when it was questioned, it would have been logical for those who knew little or nothing about science.



What I did not realize was, until maybe the 1980's, after John Paul was Pope, technically the church still 'taught' that, it was still on the books. But most educated Catholics never were taught that in modern times.



I heard that as a teenager, a very strict Catholic told me that was still the 'teaching' of the church. I had attended Catholic schools for years, had heard of Copernicus and other scientists and their problems with the church, but never heard that the church, technically still 'believed' that in the 1960's.
John S
2010-08-11 07:43:39 UTC
YES, and so did MOST Scientists of the time.



The Catholic church fully supported Cupernicus who first proposed the Heliocentric or "Sun" centered Universe (we now know that the Sun is only the center of our Solar System not the entire Universe)



But they saw it mostly as an interesting Academic idea to clean up the motion of the Planets, another wards, to simplify the Ptolemaic system of elipses.



If I'm remembering my College Astronomy correctly.....



The Catholic church sided with MOST of the Scientific community in keeping the Geocentric or Earth Centered model until better evidence existed.



This better evidence came in the form of Galileo's telescopes. And initially the Church was intrigued by Galileo's observations.

STILL the Scientific community was not moved...but the evidence was mounting.





Unfortunately for Galileo... he over stepped his bounds and began to re-interpret the bible and tell the Magestrium that they were wrong about verses in the OT talking about the Sun standing still in the sky.

That turned out to be a HUGE miscalculation on his part... to dictate to the Catholic church how to interpret the bible.



After several "WHOA..watch yourself..that is not your place!" warnings from the Church..they had him arrested and put under house arrest.

The charges: Heresy - teaching non-biblical teachings to other people and deluding the faithful.





When most of the then, modern scientists accepted the Heliocentric model.. so did the Church. It always tries to side with the majority of Scientists. Sometimes it takes a bit, but it always eventually sides with modern Science.



So the Church at one point DID believe in a GeoCentric model of the solar system, but when it was evident that this was wrong.. it adapted its view to fit the prevailing evidence.
cardimom
2010-08-11 07:50:45 UTC
actually most people in the world did at one time or other. The Greeks and Romans believed the sky was static and the sun moved across-same thing. and actually all Christians believed it.

It was believed that earth was the center of creation and everything in the heavens revolved around it.

Galileo was excommunicated for postulating that the sun is the center of the solar system and the earth revolves around it.

also most people in the world thought earth was flat for a very long time as well

People have believed many things through the centuries that we would deem stupid now:

that blood in your body is blue until you cut yourself and it turns red in the air.

that bathing causes sickness.
2010-08-11 07:36:16 UTC
There is a verse in the bible that says the sun stopped in the middle of the sky, so the early christians and Jews interpreted it to say that the sun revolves around the earth.
Rad
2010-08-11 07:31:17 UTC
If you go far enough back in history, everyone believed the sun revolved around the Earth.
♪♫victor♫♪
2010-08-11 07:32:09 UTC
600 to 700 years ago....everyone with few exception thought the Earth was the center of the Universe and everything revolved around it.



Though Catholics would arrest and sometimes even kill anyone who would say the opposite
YY4Me
2010-08-11 07:34:07 UTC
They sure did.

- - -



"To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim that Jesus was not born of a virgin." - Cardinal Bellarmine, 1615, blasphemy trial of Galileo Galilei



"The doctrine that the earth is neither the center of the universe nor immovable, but moves even with a daily rotation, is absurd, and both philosophically and theologically false, and at the least an error of faith." - Cardinal Bellarmine, 1615 blasphemy trial of Galileo Galilei

.
Mike K
2010-08-11 07:42:09 UTC
Hello,



Sure, at one time in those ages where superstition out trumped science and those in authority had hard heads regarding scientific observation much like some of the Protestant denominations today who say earth is 6400 years old and man walked with dinosaurs and Darwin is an agent of Satan as was Galileo.



Cheers,



Michael Kelly
Daver
2010-08-11 09:52:44 UTC
There was a time when Catholic believed that.

EVERYONE believed it, on account fo the fact there was a time when the scientific community didn't know any better.
Acorn
2010-08-11 07:31:35 UTC
Not only Catholics ... the whole world did.



The Catholic Church at that time was the keeper of knowledge and science, and before that all we knew was based on our observation: a geocentric universe.
2010-08-11 07:31:50 UTC
Why of course! Everyone did. They drew geocentric charts and everything.



But to be honest, it's very hard to tell unless you observe how planets move very carefully, and they didn't have telescopes good enough back in the days.
2010-08-11 07:33:02 UTC
Yes! About a thousand years ago. So did many other people. It was basically held as a universal truth.
?
2010-08-11 07:48:37 UTC
Everybody did
2010-08-11 07:31:42 UTC
Blame it on Aristotle. Nowhere in the bible does it say that the sun revolves around the earth.
Lee
2010-08-11 07:32:34 UTC
It wasn't just Catholics, it was everyone.
?
2010-08-11 07:31:40 UTC
yes. It wan't until 1971 that the Pope changed it to what we know today.


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