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over science. insisted that the Earth was the center of the universe and was made up of different material than the heavens that revolved around it. Galileo agreed with Copernicus, that the Earth was revolving, because it helped him explain ideas he was working on, such as the tides and their phenomena on Earth. In 1615 he went to Rome and argued publicly for the ideas of Copernicus. This action angered the Pope, who immediately appointed a commission to examine the theory of the Earth's motion. The findings of the commission were that the Copernican theory was contrary to the Bible and possibly heretical. The Pope was very angry at this attempt to undermine the authority and power of the church and ordered Galileo to never speak or write on the Copernican theory again. He was also forbidden to speak of it or teach it to anyone else. Galileo returned to Florence and turned his work toward astronomy and the telescope. He had made his voice heard to the public, and the seeds were planted. Although the Pope had crushed his efforts to enlighten the scientific community, Galileo had opened up the minds of those who had listened to him, thereby starting the slow breakup of church domination In 1624 Galileo visited Rome again because his old friend, Maffi Barberini, was elected Pope and had taken the name Urban VIII. He asked the Pope to rescind the edict of 1616, which banned the work of Copernicus. Urban would not do this, but did give Galileo permission to write a new book comparing the old and new theories of astronomy, provided that the information in the book would be treated hypothetically. Encouraged by this small breakthrough, Galileo returned home and began work on the new book, which he called The Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. It took several years to finish the work, and it was