[curiosity]

We've gone over Bruno already. He was burned for pantheism, not heliocentrism. I'm not defending his treatment, but it's not an example of persecution of science.

If the Church were dogmatically opposed to heliocentrism, why didn't it burn Copernicus when he presented his model in Rome? And no, he did not wait until his death to present it. He held off publishing it, but he presented it numerous times before his death.

[PatrickHenry]

If the Church were dogmatically opposed to heliocentrism, why didn't it burn Copernicus when he presented his model in Rome? And no, he did not wait until his death to present it.

Copernicus presented only a mathematical model. No problem. Galileo had some very persuasive evidence.