Galileo defended heliocentrism based on his astronomical observations of 1609 (Sidereus Nuncius 1610)
Roman Inquisition in 1615, investigated Galileo Galilei theories and concluded that heliocentrism was "foolish and absurd in philosophy, and formally heretical since it explicitly contradicts in many places the sense of Holy Scripture.
What advantage had the Pope and clergy in not admitting things could be different?
I mean, Columbus had gone to America, trying to reach India (?) in 1492, Portuguese had gone to India contouring Africa by 1498, in 1500 they discovered Brazil. Fernão de Magalhães, organized the Spanish expedition to the East Indies from 1519 to 1522, resulting in the first circumnavigation of the Earth, completed by Juan Sebastián Elcano.
Pope Paul V instructed Cardinal Bellarmine to deliver this finding to Galileo and to order him to abandon the opinion that heliocentrism was physically true. So, why the Pope insisted in something so absurd?
Later Pope Urban VIII personally asked Galileo to give arguments for and against heliocentrism the book, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, ( 1632 !!! ) and to be careful not to advocate heliocentrism. He made another request, that his own views on the matter be included in Galileo's book.
From the religious point of view, why was this so persistently not accepted, if the navigation and science confirmed the factual reality?
