Heliocentrism was politicized. The Galileo affair had a lot more to do with Church authority during the Reformation and Counter-Reformation than about cosmology

Heliocentrism was politicized. The Galileo affair had a lot more to do with Church authority during the Reformation and Counter-Reformation than about cosmology. Galileo went out of his way to antagonize certain key players, and his punishment was primarily a political matter, not a scientific or even theological one.