Galileo Affair

Background

In 1543 the Polish cleric Nicolaus Copernicus published a book setting forth heliocentrism, the theory that the earth revolves around the sun. At the time, the prevailing view was geocentrism, which held that the earth stands motionless at the center of the universe. Passages such as Joshua 10:12-13, in which the sun stands still, were also read as support for geocentrism. The Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei supported heliocentrism on the basis of his telescopic observations. He was a member of the Catholic Church. He is reported to have held that because Scripture and nature both come from God, they cannot contradict each other, and that the problem lies in how Scripture is interpreted.

Course of Events

• 1615: The Carmelite theologian Paolo Antonio Foscarini published a book attempting to reconcile heliocentrism with Scripture. In response, the Holy Office (the papal body responsible for trying cases of heresy) took action.
• 1616: The theological consultants of the Holy Office judged the claim that the sun stands motionless at the center of the universe to be "foolish and absurd in philosophy, and formally heretical." On March 5 the Congregation of the Index placed three books, including that of Copernicus, on the Index of Forbidden Books. At the direction of Pope Paul V, Cardinal Robert Bellarmine warned Galileo not to teach heliocentrism as fact. Because the records differ on the scope of the injunction issued at this time, it later became a point of contention at his trial.
• 1624: After Urban VIII became pope, Galileo visited Rome. He believed that heliocentrism could be discussed so long as it was not asserted as fact.
• 1632: Galileo published the Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, written as a conversation between proponents of the two theories. According to one view, the book's foolish portrayal of the character who defends geocentrism provoked the pope's displeasure. The Inquisition soon banned the sale of the book and summoned Galileo to Rome.
• 1633: Galileo was interrogated four times. On June 22, at the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome, he was sentenced as "vehemently suspected of heresy," and on his knees he swore to abjure heliocentrism.

Outcome and Influence

His sentence of imprisonment was soon commuted to house arrest. Galileo stayed at the residence of the Archbishop of Siena and then, from December 1633, lived at his villa in Arcetri near Florence, where he died on January 8, 1642. He was not excommunicated (expelled from the Church). The Dialogue was first dropped from the Index of Forbidden Books in its 1835 edition.

In a 1979 address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Pope John Paul II said that Galileo had suffered greatly at the hands of individuals and institutions within the Church. He then had a commission formed to reexamine the case. In an address on October 31, 1992, in which he received the commission's findings, he called the affair a "tragic mutual incomprehension" and acknowledged the errors of the theologians of that time. This address was widely reported as an "official apology," though some have pointed out that it was not a formal apology.

Assessment

The affair is often cited as a classic example of conflict between science and religion. Other scholars, however, argue that further considerations must be taken into account: at the time, evidence that could decisively prove heliocentrism was still lacking, and other factors, such as the relationship between the pope and Galileo and the politics of the Church, were also at work. Ahead of the pope's 1992 address, Cardinal Paul Poupard concluded that the judges of the time had made an error of judgment by failing to distinguish between the faith and an outdated cosmology.

In Protestantism as well, the affair is frequently raised in discussions of the relationship between Scripture and science. Some regard it as illustrating that the Bible is not a science textbook but a book that conveys the truth of salvation. Others hold that because the error lay not in Scripture but in the interpretation of the time, the affair does not conflict with biblical inerrancy. This discussion also extends into the creation and evolution debate.