That will come as a surprise to the Sumerians, Babylonians, Egyptians and Greeks. One of the greatest physicists of all time, Archimedes, died two and half centuries before anything remotely resembling a Catholic priest.
The entire Scientific Method was developed by various orders of the Catholic Church
Ironic in a post about the Church "not being hostile to science" that you'd say this. There was no really sensible version of the scientific method until Galileo Galilei. He was not a priest. Had he not been a personal friend of the Pope's, he probably would have been burned alive.
More primitive versions predate Christianity, and in other cultures less complete versions than Galileo grew up completely without any Christian influence.
Many of the most influential early scientists were religious zealots, chief among them Sir Issac Newton.
Newton believed in the Arian heresy. He called Trinitarianism: "the greatest of all apostasy."
It's true in the same sense that it's true that Columbus discovered America (others came earlier, but their discovery didn't "take"!) or that western drama arose from the miracle and mystery plays of the Middle Ages (classical drama had been lost and not rediscovered until the Renaissance The entire Scientific Method was developed by various orders of the Catholic Church. Likewise, the ancient scientists' work had been lost.
The entire Scientific Method was developed by various orders of the Catholic Church
Ironic in a post about the Church "not being hostile to science" that you'd say this. There was no really sensible version of the scientific method until Galileo Galilei. He was not a priest. Had he not been a personal friend of the Pope's, he probably would have been burned alive.
Galileo ran into trouble because he claimed heliocentricity as a fact when the tools necessary for proving it were as yet unavailable. (Sort of the same thing the AGW proponents are doing.) Copernicus a century before had no problems because he put it forth as a theory. Galileo claimed other things as fact, like his belief that the sun was the primary cause of tides on earth.
He also wrote a play portraying the Pope who had supported him in his work as a gibbering fool, biting the hand, so to speak.
The article does not say that there was no reasoning ever done by anyone except priests. It also does not say that no scientist was ever suppressed by the Church for one reason or another. Like any sponsor of anything, the Church held the scientists whom she sponsored accountable for the quality of their research.
Please re-read the article and get back to me.