Today is the Feast Day for Nicholas Copernicus. Copernicus was the first to formulate and write about a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology, which he wrote of just before his death in 1543.
In 1546 Giovanni Maria Tolosani denounced Copernicus in a work defending the absolute truth of Scripture. In 1616 the Catholic Church placed Copernicus’s work on the Index calling his heliocentric theory “false and altogether opposed to Holy Scripture.” It was not until two centuries later that the ban on Copernicus’s work was lifted.
The great error of the Church in censoring Copernicus was not only misguided Biblicism. That was bad, but was in fact only a vehicle for wrongdoing. The Church’s real sin was the pride of power. The Church wished to hold onto its power and was willing to close its eyes to truth which it felt might diminish its authority in the world. The Church said it believed the earth and not the sun was the center of the universe. Actually, the Church believed it was the center of the universe.
The Church’s reputation — both Catholic and also Protestant — has suffered for centuries because of its treatment of Copernicus and others who have dared challenge its power with hard facts. Pride has led to the Church’s ongoing downfall. And until Church learns the way of humility it is bound to continue making the same mistakes and suffering the same consequences.
For in the end facts win out; truth wins out.
And Copernicus gets a Feast Day.
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