On June 22, 1633, Galileo Galilei formally recanted his support for the heliocentric model of the solar system, which placed the Sun at the center, after being tried by the Roman Catholic Inquisition. The Inquisition had deemed this position 'heretical' as it contradicted certain biblical passages and church teachings.
Galileo, under threat of torture, publicly renounced his views in a ceremony at the convent of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome. He was then sentenced to house arrest for the remainder of his life, a sentence he served at his villa in Arcetri, near Florence.
The Vatican did not formally apologize for its treatment of Galileo until 1992, when Pope John Paul II acknowledged errors made by the church's theologians. This event remains a pivotal moment in the history of science and religion.
