From Wikipedia:

Christendom did not believe the earth was flat up to the 1500s.  By 700 St. Bede explicitly taught a spherical earth and there is no record of any other view among Catholics after that point.  Catholics of the middle ages believed in a stationary globe earth.

It is true that Copernicus linked his theory to the Pythagoreans, but this does not really have anything to do with the shape of the earth. Everyone at the time of Copernicus agreed that the earth is a sphere. This was already a thousand years past the last Catholic proponent of flat earth.  Copernicus disagreed on the movement of the earth.

If you want to reject the position of Copernicus as pagan and go back to the Catholic position which preceded Galileo's condemnation, then you should accept the Ptolemaic system, i.e. geocentric, stationary globe earth.  There are other people on this forum who think this and, while I do not personally do so, I consider it a reasonable position.

There's far too much information available for me to believe earth is a globe, either by the Fathers, or by science.  Water doesn't cling to the outside of a spinning ball.  And the Fathers were clear about the firmament covering the earth like a dome and bound to the edges.  Balls don't have edges and domes don't fit on balls.  I also don't believe man went to the moon, a deception concocted to maintain the spinning ball model held by modern science too willing to lie about everything else.     

Could you show me some of the clear teachings from the Fathers about the firmament being a dome bound to the edges?  I have never seen any.

I have no interest in the science aspects of the issue.  I just object to false claims about Church teaching and history.  The Church has never taught flat earth and through most of her history Catholics have believed the earth is a globe.  

Thanks Jayne K, it's been interesting.  Have a Merry Christmas! Hope you get all the good things you wish for.  

We are flat earthers and would like to see the topic more openly discussed among catholics...it is sad to see that protestants...who have so many errors and heretical teachings...discuss and give proof of the flat earth...although not an article for salvation within catholic teaching...I believe it is an important topic...the earths surface is flat but the whole of the earth is more like a sphere in the fact that there is the great deep and hell and purgatory then our domain then the skies above and the firmament and then the waters above the firmament.
So many things became clearer to me with the understanding of the flat earth and it strengthened my faith...not in Jesus as savior but in God and his creation...I always doubted the heliocentric theory but just accepted it because they had pics and that is what I was taught...but it never sat right within me...now I know why and it has helped me in many ways.

It's nice to have your input, Marys.

It would indeed be good to see FE discussed more openly. And you're right - it's the Prots who are to ones who are really discussing it, because they actually believe Scripture. Traditional Catholics - not so much - when it comes to the shape of the earth.  

I agree that the whole of the earth is like a sphere, if we include the firmament, the waters above the firmament, and the great deep with hell and purgatory below. It just makes sense.
And yes, so may things become clearer with the understanding of the flat earth; that is, if we have faith in God and His creation.

I know what you mean about the heliocentric theory - I remember when I was a child in grade school - the globe earth didn't make sense to me then, but I accepted it, like most everyone else.

The flat earth makes a lot more sense than a globe earth.

Keep in mind, if you decide to debate the topic further, that certain forum members will do everything that they can to stop you (and us) from debating it. The way I'm dealing with them is to just ignore them, for the most part.

Keep in mind, if you decide to debate the topic further, that certain forum members will do everything that they can to stop you (and us) from debating it. The way I'm dealing with them is to just ignore them, for the most part.

Producing one piece of evidence after another that shows how you are wrong, as I do, is exactly what a person should do when engaged in debate.  You ignore me, not because I am stopping you from debating, but because you are incapable of answering.

It's nice to have your input, Marys.

It would indeed be good to see FE discussed more openly. And you're right - it's the Prots who are to ones who are really discussing it, because they actually believe Scripture. Traditional Catholics - not so much - when it comes to the shape of the earth.  

I agree that the whole of the earth is like a sphere, if we include the firmament, the waters above the firmament, and the great deep with hell and purgatory below. It just makes sense.
And yes, so may things become clearer with the understanding of the flat earth; that is, if we have faith in God and His creation.

I know what you mean about the heliocentric theory - I remember when I was a child in grade school - the globe earth didn't make sense to me then, but I accepted it, like most everyone else.

The flat earth makes a lot more sense than a globe earth.

Keep in mind, if you decide to debate the topic further, that certain forum members will do everything that they can to stop you (and us) from debating it. The way I'm dealing with them is to just ignore them, for the most part.

That's really sad, that someone could be so intimidated, especially when they have no other input other than condemnation.    

Why do you have no interest in the science of the issue?

Ever since I can remember I have been more interested in humanities than in sciences.  I just am inherently more interested in languages, history and theology than I am in cosmology.  

Also the theological aspects are more important.  When people falsely claim, for example, that it is heretical to believe the earth is a sphere, they are holding an error which pertains to salvation.  Virtually anything concerning salvation is objectively more important than that which does not, such as the shape of the earth.

The "truths" of science are by their nature subject to change.  It is always possible for new evidence or new theories to arise which change the consensus of science.  Only truth which is taught by the Catholic Church is permanent and can be relied on.  It is theoretically possible for the consensus of science that the earth is a sphere to be wrong.  It is not possible for the Catholic teaching that Scripture does not teach about the shape of the earth to be wrong.  This is a teaching first proposed by Church Fathers that was universally accepted for over a thousand years and then incorporated into magisterial teaching in encyclicals.  Such teaching should be accepted as having the infallibility of the ordinary magisterium.

It is reasonable enough to question currently accepted science.  It is not reasonable to say that Scripture teaches a flat earth in contradiction to Church teaching that Scripture is silent on the subject.  Nor is it reasonable to say that flat earth was the near unanimous belief of the Fathers when there is only evidence of four Fathers who thought this and St. John Damascene's summary of patristic teaching explicitly says that some Fathers believed in a spherical earth.

One of my good friends, a traditional Catholic, is a flat-earther. Before Corona Virus we met often and debated things. Now we don't see each other.
One of my arguments against flat-earth is that flat-earthers cannot make a map of the world that is accurate. They have one map from the 19th century with the north pole as the center of the world which is clearly inaccurate. ( BTW magnetic fields require two poles, on this flat earth map there is only one pole. ). With this map the northern hemisphere is small and the southern hemisphere is vast. The claim is that Antarctica is the edge of the world and surrounds the world. They claim that you cannot fly across the southern hemisphere because of the great distances. However you can.

Another theory is that Jerusalem is the center of the earth. This is more realistic but the flat earthers have not made such a map. My friend says that they have no cartographers among them. So cartographers are not flat-earthers. That speaks loads against the flat earth theory.