The arguments that Galileo put forward to Cardinal Bellarmine were:
a. The bible passages about the sun still should not have been interpreted literally.
b. The model of the universe (heliocentric or geocentric) is not matter of salvation.
The Cardinal responded to statement "a" by saying that Galileo did not have the authority to decide which Bible passages were meant to be taken literally and which ones were not. He then responded to statement "b" by saying that, similarly, it was not up to Galileo to decide what was a matter of salvation and what was not. This authority belonged only to the Church.
