zzedzz, just to put you straight on Galileo, his proposal was rejected not because of any religious reason but because other scientists at the time concluded from his idea that it did not explain everything (and in fact his original idea did not completely explain the earth cycle, he said it was circular but it was not.) He insisted he was right but eventually the Church told him to present it as a theory but he refused to do. Eventually his explanation was accepted but in the meantime he had been judged, not for his idea but because of his refusal to accept that the idea was a theory. Interestingly it was the Protestants who really condemned Copernicus, Galileo's predecessor, because his ideas seemed to contradict the Bible, it was the Catholic church that was quite prepared to change their understanding of the Bible if there was a conflict between scientific observations and the Bible. That continues to this day. The Catholic Church has never condemned Evolution.
Finally, it was the Catholic Church that gave us our present Calendar, thanks to its study of the stars.
