The Evidence Clinches the Case

1728: First evidence of the motion of the earth gleaned by Bradley's work on the slant of light falling from the stars (GG +95).
1741: Benedict XIV told the Holy Office to grant an imprimatur to the first edition of the Complete Works of Galileo. This means that Catholics were permitted to discuss Galileo's theories publicly (GG +108).
1820: Based on Italian evidence of rotation and orbit (1792-1806), Catholics were allowed to teach Copernicanism as a fact rather than as a working hypothesis (GG +187).
1838: Measurement of stellar parallax by Friedrich Bessel confirmed that the earth orbits around the sun (G+205).
1851: Foucault’s pendulum demonstrated the rotation of the earth around its axis (GG +218).

1728: First evidence of the motion of the earth gleaned by Bradley's work on the slant of light falling from the stars (GG +95).