Few will know that in his book
De revolutionibus Copernicus, dedicated to Pope Paul III, placed in his introduction to Book ONE, his reasoning why RELATIVITY prevents science from establishing the order of the universe, his reasoning why the universe is GLOBAL, why the Earth is global, and why a geocentric moving stars would result in an EXPANDING UNIVERSE.
‘The World is Spherical: In the beginning we should remark that the world is globe-shaped, whether because this figure is the most perfect of all, as it is an integral whole and needs no joints; or because this figure is the one having the greatest volume and thus is especially suitable for that which is going to comprehend and concerve all things; or even because the separate parts of the world, i.e., the sun, moon and stars are viewed under this form, as is apparent in the case of drops of water and other liquid bodies, when they become delimited of themselves. And so no one would say that this form belongs to heavenly bodies.’
Paradoxically, the above spherical world ‘viewed under this form’ is the geocentric model. Later Copernicus states that; ‘For movement is the most powerful reason wherewith they try to conclude that the universe is finite.’ We agree, but it is a rotating universe of the geocentric system that proves the universe cannot be infinite, infinity being one of the condemned Pythagorean heresies of the past. A heliocentric universe with its fixed stars could be said to be infinite in distance. But an infinite universe cannot turn in 24 hours, only a finite one can do that
Copernicus said: 'This art [the science of the universe]which is as it were the head of the all the liberal arts and the one most worthy of a free man leans upon nearly all the other branches of mathematics, arithmetic, geometry, optics, geodesy, mechanics, and whatever others, all offer themselves in its service.' Note GEODESY, the measurement of lengthy Earth sections that reveal its curve.
‘The Earth is Spherical: The Earth is globe-shaped too, since on every side it rests upon its centre. But it is not perceived straightaway to be a perfect sphere, on account of the great heights of its mountains and the lowness of its valleys, thought they modify its universal roundness to only a very small extent. That is made clear in in this way. For when people journey northwards from anywhere, the northern vortex of the axis of daily revolution gradually moves overhead, and the other moves downward to the same extent; and many stars situated to the north are seen not to set, and many to the south are seen not to rise anymore….
Moreover, the inclinations of the poles have everywhere the same ratio with places at equal distances from the poles of the Earth and that happens in no other figure except the spherical. Add to this the fact that the inhabitants of the East do not perceive the evening eclipse of the sun and moon; nor the inhabitants of the West, the morning eclipses; while those who live in the middle regions – some see them earlier and some later. Moreover, it is admitted that water, which by its nature flows, always seeks lower places – the same way as earth – and does not climb up the shore any further than the convexity of the shore allows.
Now as the dogs in the street know, in 1616 the theologians of the Holy Office examined this book and others to eliminate or correct any anto-Scriptural or Catholic tenets of faith. Four of the Cardinals, including Robert Bellarmine, the most learned of theologians at the time of the Reformation, had presided over the seven year trial of Bruno and erxamined every one of the many Pythagorean heresies Bruno held. Not even an altar-boy suggested the global earth of St Thomas Aquinas and Copernicus was in any way contrary to the Bible or catholic belief IN ANY WAY.So any assertion that a flat earth is revealed in Scripture or is a Catholic tenet, is anti-Catholic, and no amount of 'disliking' posters who tell readers this will change that. It has become perfectly plain to me that there is something NASTY that goes along with flat-earthism, that demonstrates to me anything but a Catholic mind.