Galileo Free Response Practice 2.0

During the Scientific Revolution in Europe in the 16th and 17th century, Galileo was a great scientist who made many astronomic, mathematic, and physical discoveries.  He has been referred to as the "father of science," and Pope Pius XII referred to Galileo as one of the "most audacious heroes of research."  However, at that time, since many of his findings disagreed with beliefs that had always been held by the Church, Galileo made himself an enemy of the Vatican and its priests and bishops.  Galileo's being persecuted by the Church because of his differing astronomical ideas was the biggest setback in expanding his studies because of the power and control the Church had over Europe at that time, and people of that time would have known much more about science sooner had it not been for this roadblock, and people today also may have even known more.

Throughout his life, Galileo contradicted the findings of multiple Jesuit priests.  Galileo published The Assayer in 1623, discussing, among other things, the nature of comets.  The previous year, Father Orazio Grassi had written pamphlet on comets, and because Galileo's views contradicted those written in Grassi's pamphlet, a controversy between Galileo's and Grassi's ideas arose.  In another work, Galileo also contradicted Father Christoph Scheinder's ideas on sunspots.  Galileo proved to be a constant struggle against the Church, contradicting its priests and forcing them to turn their people against Galileo.  With these priests discouraging their followers and students from Galileo's works, people were less likely to read them, fearing the wrath of God.

During the Roman Inquisition, the Vatican itself dealt with the people opposing their teachings and loyal priests.  In 1616, they banned Copernicus's Orbium Coelestium, putting it on the Index of Forbidden Books.  This alone was enough to discourage people from listening to Galileo, whose work was largely based on Copernican theories of heliocentricism, instead of the Church's ideas of geocentricism.  This was also the year that Galileo was chastised for his findings and asked to repent by Cardinal Bellarmine.  The Vatican made an example out of him to show the people what would happen to them if they went against the Church, which no one was eager to do now.  This time, Galileo refused and continued on with his work.  Galileo went on trial in 1633, in which the verdict was that Galileo had committed great acts of heresy, and was forced to sign a form, formally announcing that he was wrong.  Further printing of his works were banned, making it very difficult for Europeans to get a hold of his now-heretic discoveries.  It was not until 1718, almost one hundred years later, that the current Pope lifted the ban on his works and they were able to be printed yet again.  That is one hundred years in which people could have learned the truth about the tides, the truth about the position of the earth, and the truth of many more various astronomical phenomena.  If not for the Church, people of 16th and 17th century Europe would have been much more educated about the sky above them.

If not for the discouraging Church, Galileo may have even discovered more than all that he had in his time.  All the time he spent fighting the Church could have been used to even further improve his compass or telescope design, for example.  He could have taken more time to stargaze and report even more on what he saw.  Instead, he was exhausting his efforts trying to spread his truths to the whole of Europe.  In the last years of his life, when he was under house arrest for heresy, he could have been discovering even more about physics, mathematics, or astronomy.  If Galileo had not been persecuted by the Church, he would have had more time to devote to his studies, and therefore would have had more to share with the world.

The Catholic Church and all of its priests and bishops were a hindrance to Galileo, even those such as Pope Urban VIII who Galileo had considered a friend.  Living in Italy where the influence of the Church was greatest did not help; Galileo's whole life was spent fighting against the Church to spread his beliefs.  Because the Church was so powerful, it is not a surprise that it took almost a whole century after Galileo's death for this to happen.  If not for the Church in general and its representatives such as Grassi, Scheinder, and Bellarmine, the whole of Europe would have learned much more about science sooner, and people today may even know more than they currently do because of what Galileo would have been able to learn.