How was the historical context of the 17th

century different from 1979?

Galileo was a scientist who tried to prove the heliocentric system in the 17th century.

Roman Catholic Church at the time wasn't ready to accept modern science, as they would have to declare they were wrong in the readings of the religious texts.

As the church was one of the primary authorities at the time, they had the final say in this, so Galileo was forced by the Inquisition of the Church to denounce his findings and declare that the theory about Earth moving around the Sun is wrong.

The church opened the question again in 1979. when Pope John Paul II started the investigation of the Inquisition's treatment of Galileo and their ideas. This came from the many new discoveries that came over the years.

In the 20th century, after the industrial revolution, people could get involved more in the sciences. Therefore, new discoveries were made, and people gave them far more credit than ever before. The church wasn't considered the sole authority. With the globalization on the rise, it was more common that people came for various religious backgrounds, and the Catholic Church wasn't the only or the biggest socio-cultural authority over the science and education.

In 1979. people were putting more attention to researches, experiments, and objective scientific facts. Therefore, the church could no longer push the sole ideas that were widespread among their ranks in the 17th century and had to finally admit they were wrong.

That is why the committee started investigating in 1979. Finally, in 1992. they decided that Inquisition, although they acted from good faith, made wrong decisions.