Vatican puts Galileo on a pedestal

Google for: Galileo pope protest university and you'll see why the Vatican is 'honouring' Galileo. It's simply that the current pope was told to sod off when he wanted to give a speech at La Sapienza university in Rome in January this year. There were protests, banners an dissent from academics. Why? Because Pope Benedict XVI gave a speech in 1990 stating that he "condones the 1633 trial and conviction of the scientist Galileo for heresy". Now, could the 'infallible' pope have been wrong? Is he going to recant? Should he be made to recant? As a former head of the Inquisition he will know where the instruments of torture are to be found. I suppose the next step, following precedence, is to show him said instruments. Funny old world, innit.

Bizarre religious arse faces. Best thing this country ever did was turn protestant - and therefore eventually atheist. Thank you, Henry. AT adds: We were saved by a vacuum cleaner?

Gallileo not believing in the afterlife? You've gotta be kidding! Jim, did you actually take the time to read the Pope's address? Not a CNN news article but the actual speech? Also, you create nice easy straw man in your remarks about papal infallibility.

They're all hypocrites! Why would the roman catholics now, after 400 years, apologize? It's been over a 100 years since Galileo was proven correct, there are doing this for public appeal, to relieve some of the hatred for there actions of persecuting those who went against the norm and were correct. AT adds: Maybe they're 400 years behind the times.

Damned right. We need to concentrate on discrediting Darwin. Got no time for Franklin and his blasphemous lightning rods, or Jenner and his vaccines.

And there I was thinking this was an article about the european GPS efforts.

This changes nothing, absolutely nothing. It diverts attention from the fact that the church can be seriously vindictive. What´s more important: that you´re being treated fairly when it MATTERS or that they erect a stupid statue centuries after you´re dead? Apparently it´s OK to be wronged if they apologise 400 years too late... that´s what this act of superficial hypocrisy says. To HELL with the pope

This will give the pope more time to concentrate on the use of condoms, birth control, onan and other verboten things.

Condamnation of Galileo. In 1633, Galileo was condemned by the Church for biblical and scientific reasons. Subsequently, science gradually proved that Galileo’s theory was correct. I reconsidered the ultimate phase of the trial of the astronomer: the contradiction of his new thesis with regard to the biblical verses sustained by the Church. In my French book “Entre Galilée et l’Église : la Bible” (Between Galileo and the Church, the Bible…) I analyse the conflicting verses. And I demonstrate, through a comprehensive semantic study, that in the Hebrew and Greek Texts, the sun does not turn around the Earth, contrary to what the versions assert. I conclude that if the translations of the Bible had been faithful to the original Texts, Galileo would not have been condemned for “having held and believed a doctrine which is false and contrary to the divine and Holy Scripture.” As a result of this study, I clarify the many debates held through the centuries and endeavour to align the translations of the Bible with their original Texts and to officially rehabilitate Galileo. Joël Col