...I said many in Galileo's scientific community pushed for his demise...it was Kabuki theatre designed to shut him up...Thesis 3 in the article linked below supports the notion that his colleagues pushed the issue...which could have resulted in his death...some historians think the situation was dire, some say it was all political rhetoric...so it more a matter of opinion than hard fact...
Again, there is an important distinction to be made in Galileo's trial...he was told to stop teaching heliocentrism as FACT because he could not prove it...and he couldn't...so it was "suspected heresy"
until he could offer any kind of proof...did you expect the Church or anyone else, to overturn centuries of Aristotelean thinking without a shred of evidence?...And why was he offered every opportunity before and during his confinement to offer proof...which he knew he couldn't do?...he was never excommunicated and remained a loyal Catholic for the remainder of his life...
Some suggest that the Church was 100% wrong, that they are rigidly against scientific advancement, and that Galileo's trial irrefutably proves this for all cases moving forward...I think that is nonsense...the Sun is not the immovable center of the Universe...so Galileo was fulla crap to some degree...I have already admitted that Urban VIII had a huge ego...but Galileo did as well...Arthur
Koestler's book is a key source for a lot of people...it is referenced many times in the summary article linked below...
Urban VIII was no saint...neither was Galileo...any honest discussion would admit that...
Link: Schirrmacher on Galileo