Well, the whole reason why Galileo had been treated so badly by the Catholic Church was because his findings contradicted the established Church canon. Galileo was questioning the Church, and, therefore, the Pope. And the Pope was seen as God's representative on Earth. So, for Galileo to question the Pope, it was like he was questioning God, and that's a big no-no with the Catholic Church.
Later, Pope John Paul admitted that the Church's treatment of Galileo had been unfair. That, in doing so, the Church had attempted to censor science itself. And you don't censor science!
Cause that's just not cool :)
