Final answer:
The Catholic Church was against the development of the heliocentric theory as it contradicted the widely accepted belief of Earth being the center of the universe, a belief backed by the ideas of Aristotle and Ptolemy. Galileo's support of the Copernican hypothesis, which he publicly defended, led to the Church declaring the theory 'false and absurd'. The acceptance of the heliocentric system was also hindered by a philosophical mindset that valued human thought and divine revelation over observational evidence.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Catholic Church was opposed to the heliocentric theory because it challenged the long-held belief, supported by the Church, that the Earth was the center of the universe. This belief was upheld by the ideas of Aristotle and Ptolemy, which had powerful political and economic backing from the Church authorities.
Galileo, adopting the Copernican hypothesis of a heliocursive solar system in the 1590s, further angered the Church by challenging this worldview, writing publicly on the topic in Italian, a language that was more accessible to the public than Latin. This led to the Church decreeing in 1616 that the Copernican Doctrine was 'false and absurd' and should not be defended or held.
Further complicating matters during Copernicus' time was a general lack of motivation to carry out observations or experiments to establish whether the heliocentric or geocentric system was accurate. This was due to a philosophical tradition that trusted human thought combined with divine revelation over sensory evidence. This made natural observations suspect, hence the reluctance to accept the heliocentric theory even after half a century of debate.
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