By Corazon Damo-Santiago
Until his death on January 8, 1642, the Church considered Galileo a heretic. In 1992 Pope John Paul II expressed regret on how the Galileo case was handled.
He issued a formal apology, acknowledging the error of Catholic judges. Galileo Galilei, an astronomer and physicist, was forbidden from holding and defending his beliefs in a verdict on April 12, 1633.
Chief Inquisitor Fr. Vicenzo Maculano da Firenzuola read the verdict: “We pronounce, judge and declare that you have rendered yourself vehemently suspected by the Holy Office of heresy, that is of having believed and held the doctrine, which is false and contrary to the holy and Divine Scriptures that the sun is the center of the world and it does not move from East to West, and that the Earth does move and is not the center of the world,” the verdict says.
Earth is center of the universe
The Earth is the center of the universe and all heavenly bodies revolve around it—was Aristotle’s geocentric view, which the Catholic Church and Christians believed.
This belief was supported by biblical citations, among them:
Psalm 96:10: “Tremble before God, all the Earth; say among the nations: The Lord is king. The world will surely stand fast never to be moved.”
1 Chronicle 16:30: “Tremble before Him all the Earth; He has made the world firm, not to be moved.”
Ecclesiastes 1:5: “And the sun rises and sets and returns to its place.”
Heretic philosopher
Galileo was born in Pisa, Italy, on February 15, 1564. The first of six children, he appreciated music like his father Vincenzo, a music theorist, composer and lute player.
When he was 8 years old, the family moved to Florence, where he studied in Camaldolese Monastery of Vallombrosa.
He seriously considered to be a priest but his father wanted him to pursue a medical degree in the University of Pisa.
After attending a lecture in Geometry, he pleaded to his father that he be allowed to study Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. So he shifted his specialization.
He was appointed lifetime philosophy and mathematics professor in the University of Padua after graduation.
His “scepticism for established authority” and awareness of quantified experimentations led him to invent the early thermometer and military compass, improve the telescope of Hans Lippershey, write a manual for calculating compass, and construct the hydrostatic balance for measuring small objects. He, likewise, refined the theories on motion and falling objects.
He confirmed the phases of Venus, discovered the four largest satellites of Jupiter, called the Galilean moons, observed and analyzed sunspots.
But his interest centered on Ptolemy, an astronomer in the 2nd century that positions the Earth as the center of the solar system.
A friend of the church, he was allowed to pursue his scientific and astronomical interests. His friends, Pope Paul V (1605-1621) and Pope Urban VIII (1623-1644), allowed him to “investigate Copernicus’s ideas as long as he didn’t hold or defend them.”
His book Dialogue Concerning the Chief World System in 1632 was considered as “attack on Aristotelian geocentrism and defence of the Copernician theory.”
He retorted: “Explanations do not contradict biblical passages.”
But he was “threatened with torture if he did not admit this truth” he espoused in his book.
He maintained his denial, but was disregarded. After the verdict declaring him a heretic, he was sentenced to imprisonment on June 22, 1633, for the rest of his life.
Epilogue
Sentenced to imprisonment, Archbishop Ascario Piccolomini of Sienna requested for his house arrest, which was granted.
Galileo was allowed to return to his villa in Arcentri near Florence on 1634. He was, likewise, barred from seeing friends and publishing books. He managed to smuggle the manuscripts of “Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Concerning Two New Science (Physics and Mechanics)”.
After the completion of his book, he became totally blind and died on January 8, 1642, at the age of 77.
His book on Physics and Mechanics was published in Holland in 1638. It received high praises from Albert Einstein, which earned Galileo the title Father of Modern Physics besides Father of Scientific Method.
In 1758 the Catholic Church supported the Copernican Theory that the sun is the center of the universe. After 337 years of silence, Pope John Paul II in 1979, initiated an investigation on the condemnation of Galileo. And after 350 years, Pope John Paul I in 1992, acknowledged that Galileo has played a major role in scientific revolution—man’s understanding of the universe.
****
Santiago is a former regional director of the Department of Education National Capital Region. She is currently a faculty member of Mater Redemptoris College in Calauan, Laguna.
Image credits: Wikimedia Commons