Saturday, December 27, 2008

Vatican now praises Galileo as a hero

Just in time for the 400th anniversary of Galileo's telescope and the International Year of Astronomy in 2009, Pope Benedict paid tribute to the Italian astronomer and physicist, saying he had helped the faithful better understand and "contemplate with gratitude the Lord's works."

It's quite a reversal of fortune for Galileo (1564-1642), who made the first complete astronomical telescope and used it to gather evidence that the Earth revolved around the sun. Church teaching at the time placed Earth at the centre of the universe. The church denounced Galileo's theory as dangerous to the faith, but Galileo defied its warnings. Tried as a heretic in 1633 and forced to recant, he was sentenced to life imprisonment, later changed to house arrest.

Gee, it's only taken the church 400 years to change their position. Not bad.

1 comment:

Bernie May said...

It didn't help that Galileo was a pompous know-it-all git who pissed off a lot of powerful people. I think his trial had less to do with astronomy than putting him in his place. Goes to show that there's being right, and there's being righteously snotty about it.