[Zapmeister]

Originally posted by Arryn:
It was for heresy. The following Catholic page The Galileo Controversy has an excellent overview of it, despite playing semantic games about it being for heresy.

It mis-represents the facts. Galileo's hand-written confession, forced from him by the Inquisition, included these words:

But since I, after having been admonished by this Holy Office entirely to abandon the false opinion that the sun was the centre of the universe and immovable, and that the earth was not the centre of the same and that it moved, and that I was neither to hold, defend, nor teach in any manner whatever, either orally or in writing, the said false doctrine; and after having received a notification that the said doctrine is contrary to Holy Writ, I did write and cause to be printed a book in which I treat of the said already condemned doctrine and bring forward arguments of much efficacy in its favour, without arriving at any solution:...