There was science as soon as humans learned to use fire to cook food, or figured out they'd die if they stepped off a cliff, or that if they saved seeds and put them in the ground at the right time of year they'd have a future food supply. The problem with the Church at a certain point is they effectively declared the science to be settled (coincidentally settled in a way that consolidated their power) when in actuality it was quite incomplete, as it still is today on a very large number of issues.
The ironic thing is, "the science is settled" is about the most conservative position possible, where "wait a minute, let's take a better look at this" is a prototypical liberal take. Not dissimilar from "let's protect and uphold the unelected/unaccountable bureaucracy status quo" versus "let's get a handle on this and make it better for the people and less costly/burdensome."