Yes, it's a quite old fiction. Not to say that the Church is innocent, but the 'Church held back science' line is definitely not accurate. More can always be said on this matter if anyone would like to address it; for the meantime, here's some previous posts chewing on The Medieval Catholic Church Versus Science:
Of course, there's also the flagship case of Church Vs Science, that being the Galileo affair. I've left it out here because, strictly speaking, it ain't quite Medieval. But I also have a link compilation for that whole business; do let me know if anyone wants to see what the scholars think of that grumpy old Tuscan disputant.