Was the heliocentric theory considered heresy by the Catholic Church?

Answer 1

At the time it was first proposed by Galileo, yes the heliocentric theory was considered heresy by the Catholic church because it contradicted several statements in the Old Testament as well as undermined the implicit assumption that the Earth was the center of the universe.

However, as scientific evidence has supported the heliocentric theory, the Catholic church has stopped calling it heresy and now accepts it as truth.

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Catholic AnswerNo, the Heliocentric theory, first published in "modern" times by Copernicus, a Catholic, and dedicated to Pope Paul III was subsequently published, erroneously, by a Lutheran, as a "theory" since he knew that Martin Luther and the other protestants would never accept it, but the Church looked very favorably upon it. There were some in the Church who resisted the idea as it appeared to disagree with Sacred Scripture. So when Galileo later took up heliocentric theory, he ran into trouble with various individuals in the Church who told him he could not publish the "theory" without proof - which he did not provide. Amazingly, Galileo was a good friend of the Pope at the time, and, even though the Pope tried to help him, he went his own way, broke his word, and published without proof anyway - for which he got into trouble. However, heliocentrism was never condemned as heresy.