Pope Marks Galileo Anniversary, Praises Astronomy

[moobu2]

Pope marks Galileo anniversary; says laws of nature help understand Lord's work


VATICAN CITY December 21, 2008 (AP)
The Associated Press
Pope Benedict XVI is marking the 400th anniversary of Galileo's use of a telescope.
Benedict said Sunday he wanted to salute all who are marking the 2009 anniversary and UNESCO's World Year of Astronomy.
Speaking on the winter solstice, Benedict said understanding the laws of nature can stimulate understanding and appreciation of the Lord's works.
The Catholic Church condemned Galileo in the 17th century for supporting Nicholas Copernicus' discovery that the Earth revolved around the sun; church teaching at the time placed Earth at the center of the universe.

At this rate, the Vatican should catch up in about 350 years

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. heh, what irony.

Today, the Vatican has one of the best astronomical centers in the world, attracting the best and the brightest, and sharing information with scientists of all backgrounds, creeds, religions, and political affiliations.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

2. It's about goddamn time.

Why anybody would listen to celibate old men in long dresses with lace on them, is beyond me.

:wtf:

[laconicsax]

3. So here's how this series of events unfolded.

Galileo wrote a book that challenged the Word of God and was declared a heretic by an infallible pope.
Centuries later, another infallible pope said that the other pope was wrong, but still infallible.
A little bit later, the next infallible pope says that God inspired Galileo to write his book.

In short:

God inspired Galileo to write a book that contradicted the book written by God.

[struggle4progress]

4. That's inaccurate as history. First, the Popes were not infallible at the time of Galileo:

the doctrine of papal infallibility became standard Catholic teaching only at the time of the first Vatican Council in 1870, by which time Galileo had been dead for several hundred years. Nor is the doctrine of papal infallibility that Pope is never wrong, nor that the Pope never makes mistakes; whether one accepts it or not, it is a much more circumscribed teaching than that. Finally -- and this is an important point -- Galileo was ultimately tried under a Pope who had often had friendly meetings with him about scientific matters and who gave him political advice on how to avoid a conviction: the advice was essentially that Galileo should simply describe the Copernican system as a convenient device for accurate calculation, rather than insisting that the Copernican system was absolutely true, but Galileo did not follow this advice; Galileo instead persisted in regarding his mathematical models as absolutely true until he had alienated enough conservative clergy to guarantee a conviction; the irony, of course, is that the Church, motivated by a desire to preserve its traditional authority against contemporary challenges (such as the Reformation) took what we today would regard as a more sophisticated and more modern philosophical view of scientific model building than the really great scientist Galileo did, though Galileo's practical scientific work was far better than any of his inquisitors could understand


THE CHURCH IN CRISIS: A History of the General Councils: 325-1870
CHAPTER 20. The First General Council of the Vatican, 1869-70
http://www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/coun21.html

... The following four criteria must be present in order for a papal teaching to be considered ex cathedra, that is, infallible. The Pope must teach as supreme doctor (teacher) of the whole world ... The Pope must be defining a doctrine of faith or morals. No other subject matter pertains to our salvation ... The Pope must make his intention known by clear words that he is defining a doctrine contained in the deposit of faith, and binding upon the consciences of men ... The Pope must attach the sanction of anathema to the decree, either explicitly or implicitly ...
The Infallibility of the Pope — Basic Facts About an Essential Dogma
http://catholicism.org/apologetics-infallibility.html

The Trial of Galileo
by Doug Linder (2002)
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/galileo/galileoaccount.html