[CarolinaGuitarman]

"Copernicus had no problem publising his works,"

It helps being dead. It also helps having someone write in the intro that the model wasn't physically true, but just a mathematical advance in predicting the motions of the planets.

[DarkSavant]

In his letters and from his correspondents it showed he actually feared the Academic elitists of the day much more than the Church.

As for the intro, it was prudent, as he didn't really have the data necessary to prove beyond a doubt what he said. He made very few actual observations in his lifetime and persued his theory more or less as a hobby.