Critique of Maurice Finocchiaro's "Retrying Galileo" and the So-Called "Galileo Myth"

Did the Catholic Church ever actually condemn heliocentrism as a heresy? The Galileo scholar Maurice Finocchiaro argues that it did not. On his account, the "heresy" reading is a myth that began in 1633 and has been repeated ever since, and the Church in fact judged heliocentrism only "contrary to Scripture" rather than heretical. This book sets out to show that his thesis can be disproven, and rather easily.

Dr. Finocchiaro was sent a copy of this critique in December 2017. In a reply of February 2018 he acknowledged receiving it, but he has not responded since, and so the critique is offered here in print. For a related treatment, see the author's YouTube video, "The Status of the Anti-Copernican Decrees of the Catholic Church."