Today in Catholic History – Condemnation of Galileo

On 22 June 1633, Galileo was condemned by the Roman Inquisition.

In 1616, the Roman Inquisition had acted against Galileo for these reasons : holding the doctrine that the sun is at the center of the universe and immovable and that the earth moves; teaching and writing about this belief to others; for publishing a book presenting this doctrine and for expressing a doctrine which was contrary to the true sense and authority of Holy Scripture.

He was ordered to abandon this doctrine and to no longer teach it. All books which presented this doctrine were to be prohibited. Galileo agreed with the Inquisition’s decisions and did not discuss these ideas for sixteen years.

But in 1632, he published a book, “Dialogue of Galileo Galilei on the Great World System,” which the Inquisition deemed violated Galileo’s earlier promise. Therefore, the Inquisition ordered that Galileo was to formally reject the doctrine that the sun was immovable and the center of the universe and that the earth moved, the offending book was to be prohibited, he was placed under house imprisonment, and each week for three years was to repeat the seven penitential Psalms.

On 31 October 1992, Pope John Paul II apologized for the condemnation of Galileo.

The text of the condemnation of Galileo

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2 Comments

  1. TC
    Posted June 22, 2010 at 10:40 am | Permalink | Reply

    The Catholic Laboratory recently did a myth busting episode about Galileo & his trial:
    http://tinyurl.com/2a699oo

    He was condemned basically for insulting the Pope in the Dialogue. Jesuits throughout Europe continued to teach Copernican theory w/o interference from the Church.

  2. David
    Posted April 21, 2015 at 1:03 am | Permalink | Reply

    Where’s the link to the text of Pope John Paul II’s apology? You give us a link to the text of the 400 year old obsolete condemnation. How about a little fair play for JP II?

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