Ockham later attacked John XII for errors in some of his papal bulls, going so far as to call him a heretic. He and two other friars fled to Italy (at this time the papacy was in Avaigion, France) and were excommunicated from the church.

What is particularly interesting in the Galilean context is that while Ockham was persecuted, imprisioned, and finally excommunicated during his lifetime; he has since risen to such high regard in the church to be deemed a Doctor. Change within the church is slow, and often the ideas initially rejected by the Church may be gradually incorporated into its theological tradition, and enemies of the Church may become its new heroes.