Some atheists would have us believe Fr. Nicolaus Copernicus was fearful of publishing his heliocentric model because of the Catholic Church.
This is completely untrue.
In fact, several high ranking bishops and cardinals recommended the astronomer publish his research after they learned about it. Fr. Copernicus acquiesced by publishing an abstract, copies of which were discovered in Vienna in 1873 and Stockholm in 1878.
In this commentary Fr. Copernicus stated his theory in the form of seven axioms, reserving the mathematical part for his posthumously published book. Continue reading