The Pope feared Copernicanism would undermine the Church’s authority.

Evidence

Soon the Pope, realizing that people were seeing the book as a convincing argument in favor of Copernicanism, regretted having allowed its publication. — Hawking, Stephen, A Brief History of Time, 353

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Hawking, Stephen, A Brief History of Time, 353
• XREF: connects to: The Church prioritized its authority over scientific inquiry. — Hawking, Stephen, A Brief History of Time, 351; Hostility toward pagan learning persisted within the Church for centuries — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 1508; The Catholic Church suppressed rational science for centuries. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 189 (+2 more)