want the truth about Galileo and the Catholic Church?

Question

SOURCE: http://www.catholic.com/library/Galileo_Controversy

The Church is not anti-scientific. It has supported scientific endeavors for centuries. During Galileo’s time, the Jesuits had a highly respected group of astronomers and scientists in Rome. In addition, many notable scientists received encouragement and funding from the Church and from individual Church officials. Many of the scientific advances during this period were made either by clerics or as a result of Church funding.

Many people wrongly believe Galileo proved heliocentricity. He could not answer the strongest argument against it, which had been made nearly two thousand years earlier by Aristotle: If heliocentrism were true, then there would be observable parallax shifts in the stars’ positions as the earth moved in its orbit around the sun. Galileo did not prove the theory by the Aristotelian standards of science in his day.

Galileo could have safely proposed heliocentricity as a theory or a method to more simply account for the planets’ motions. His problem arose when he stopped proposing it as a scientific theory and began proclaiming it as truth, though there was no conclusive proof of it at the time.

Galileo came to Rome to see Pope Paul V (1605-1621). The pope, weary of controversy, turned the matter over to the Holy Office, which issued a condemnation of Galileo’s theory in 1616. Things returned to relative quiet for a time, until Galileo forced another showdown.

When Galileo met with the new pope, Urban VIII, in 1623, he received permission from his longtime friend to write a work on heliocentrism, but the new pontiff cautioned him not to advocate the new position, only to present arguments for and against it. When Galileo wrote the Dialogue on the Two World Systems, he used an argument the pope had offered, and placed it in the mouth of his character Simplicio.

Galileo, perhaps inadvertently, made fun of the pope, a result that could only have disastrous consequences. Urban felt mocked and could not believe how his friend could disgrace him publicly.

In the end, Galileo recanted his heliocentric teachings, but it was not—as is commonly supposed—under torture nor after a harsh imprison- ment. Galileo was, in fact, treated surprisingly well.

In the end, Galileo's goof was that he claimed as "fact" what he had not yet proven by the necessary standards. Scientists do the same today. Galileo was right, but he did not prove it.

Comments anyone? Don't report me: Just trying to dispell some myths

Answer 1

thanks for the info, finally i have somethingi can can show to my anit-catholic friends in physics class. they r always trying to show how the church impeded the pursuit of science

Answer 2

He didn't want the Church to adopt any specific attitude. You seem to have no idea about Galileo or the Catholic Church. Here is a start just to get you excited to actually learn. The Catholic Church is the inventor of the hospital and the university and paid lots of astronomers to work on behalf of the Catholic Church looking at science.

Answer 3

The truth of the matter is that the Catholic church tortured Galileo when he was an old man until he recanted his theory about the earth revolving around the sun.

Answer 4

You forgot the part about the catholics turning on some of the astronomers and declaring their work as heresy. Like where he declared that verses weren't supposed to be taken literally, and he was hung out to dry by the church. They forced him to deny heliocentrism because of bible passages ("Psalm 93:1", "Psalm 96:10", and "Chronicles 16:30") which opposed it. In the end he was required to apologize to the church, and had to continue his research in private.

So not only are you wrong, we've also found some problems in scripture. Thanks!

Answer 5

Wow! No answers after ten minutes. I guess the truth isn't as interesting as the Protestant twist!

Answer 6

Oh dear the anti-Catholics will love this and try to argue against it even though it is totally factual.

Answer 7

I thought you were going to tell us the truth about Galileo and the catholic church?

Answer 8

the only 'goof' i can see that he made was in giving in to the kangaroo court and renouncing much of his most important work...i can't condemn him for that, though-an frail old man, ordered to travel hundreds of miles in the dead of winter to 'explain himself', facing the Insquisition? i feel sorry for him-it had to have been humiliating for him! i can't for the life of me see how anyone could think that this was not an incredibly shameful episode in history

Answer 9

So the fact that he hadn't finished his research was reason to place him under house arrest for the rest of his life, was it?

Answer 10

thanks for all this info
Galileo also said that it was useless to look for essences
I bet this was not really appreciated by the Church