It's true in the same sense that it's true that Columbus discovered America (others came earlier, but their discovery didn't "take"!) or that western drama arose from the miracle and mystery plays of the Middle Ages (classical drama had been lost and not rediscovered until the Renaissance The entire Scientific Method was developed by various orders of the Catholic Church. Likewise, the ancient scientists' work had been lost.
The entire Scientific Method was developed by various orders of the Catholic Church
Ironic in a post about the Church "not being hostile to science" that you'd say this. There was no really sensible version of the scientific method until Galileo Galilei. He was not a priest. Had he not been a personal friend of the Pope's, he probably would have been burned alive.
Galileo ran into trouble because he claimed heliocentricity as a fact when the tools necessary for proving it were as yet unavailable. (Sort of the same thing the AGW proponents are doing.) Copernicus a century before had no problems because he put it forth as a theory. Galileo claimed other things as fact, like his belief that the sun was the primary cause of tides on earth.
He also wrote a play portraying the Pope who had supported him in his work as a gibbering fool, biting the hand, so to speak.
The work of Archimedes was not lost. It continued to exist in the Eastern Empire and throughout the muslim world; it was simply less well known in the West because of a general deterioration of knowledge there. Just because a few well educated people -- many of them religious -- still knew the knowledge of antiquity that doesn't mean they invented it, any more than the muslims [who've also tried to claim credit for it.]
Heliocentricity was perfectly provable with the observations available to anyone. The Ptolemaic system was untenable; only ignormausses who wanted to believe humans were the center of the universe were determined to hang onto it.
The claim that Galileo got himself into trouble because he mocked the pope is both false and silly. Galileo got himself into trouble because when he was put to the question, he refused to back down. He took the correct position against an ignorant and evil group of men.
Even if his mockery of the pope had been the cause of his troubles, so what? The pope is a man and NOTHING MORE. He isn't entitled to any special respect by anyone, least of all someone who had the truth on his side while the pope and his flunkies were trying to suppress it.
Copernicus still had problems. Some of his biggest critics of his ideas were protestants. True though, he was brilliant and had close ties to the Church.