In response, Roman Catholicism steeled itself for battle and launched the Counter-Reformation, which emphasized orthodoxy and fidelity to the true church The Counter-Reformation reinvigorated the church and, to some extent, eliminated the decline of the its excesses. But the Counter- Reformation also contributed t and rework the Italian Renaissance, a revival of arts and letters that sought to recover classical art and philosophy of ancient Greece and Rome. The popes had once been great patrons of Renaissance arts and sciences, but the counter-Reformation put an end to the church's liberal leniency in these areas. Further the church's new emphasis on religious orthodoxy would soon clash with the emerging scientific revolution. Galileo, with his study of astronomy, found himself at the center of this clash