Why was Galileo put on trial by the Catholic Church?
He proved the Earth wasn't the center of the universe - and the Church didn't want to hear it.
The answer
In 1633, the Roman Inquisition tried Galileo Galilei for 'vehement suspicion of heresy' after he published Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, which supported Copernicus's heliocentric model. Found guilty, he was sentenced to house arrest for the remainder of his life. Legend says he muttered 'And yet it moves' after his forced recantation, though this is likely apocryphal. The Catholic Church did not formally acknowledge its error until 1992, when Pope John Paul II issued a public apology.
Source: Britannica
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