Ratzinger on Galileo

[bobbieinok]

saw this at bartcop forum

a discussion about the church, Ratzinger, and Galileo at

http://traditioninaction.org/index.htm

note the source


ABOUT US

Tradition In Action is committed to defend the perennial Magisterium of Holy Mother Church and Catholic traditions. TIA also works for a restoration of Christian civilization, adapted to contemporary historical circumstances.

http://traditioninaction.org/History/A_003_Galileo.html

to understand the slippy points being discussed, you should read the entire article.....what supposedly Galileo was REALLY doing and why he was wrong and the church was right

....

The Holy Inquisition, therefore, acted correctly in condemning Galileo. That action was consistent with its mission of guarding the integrity of the Catholic Faith. It was justly defending the Catholic Theology and Philosophy attacked by Galileo Galilei.

In a speech delivered in Parma, Italy, March 15, 1990, even Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger endorsed the opinion of philosopher P. Feyerabend against Galileo. Ratzinger stated:
“At the time of Galileo the Church remained much more faithful to reason than Galileo himself. The process against Galileo was reasonable and just” (17).

more....

[BrklynLiberal]

1. OY.

Guess my suggestion that he would nominate Torquemada for the defender of truth was not far off.

[DemBones DemBones]

7. READ THE FREAKING ARTICLE.

Here's an excerpt:

"Galileo extrapolated scientific data and made conclusions in the fields of philosophy and theology, allegedly supposing both to be in the realm of science. The judges of the Inquisition made a parallel confusion when they condemned the scientific theories of the scholar, thinking that they were condemning the unsuitable philosophical and theological extrapolations of Galileo.

That is, both sides based their conclusions on a fundamental imprecision of terms as we understand them today. That imprecision is what fed the myth that the Church condemned science. All the ensuing attacks against the Inquisition and the Catholic Church have been made without taking this basic confusion into consideration."

[ladeuxiemevoiture]

16. Again, the Church plays from both sides of the deck.

On almost every issue, they talk about immutable, unchangeable, eternal standards - natural law - and values which have existed, do exist and will exist forever, never changing, that since the Church is guided by the Holy Spirit, the Church is always right.

Now, it turns out, during the Inquisition and Galileo's excommunication, the Church was merely "confused." :rolleyes:

sarcasm: I suppose good Catholics are not also to be confused about precisely when the Church is confused and when it is not. Like, say, the prohibition against wearing condoms. No, if you are a normal person and actually have a sex life and don't use condoms and then get AIDS, that's God's plan. /sarcasm

[leftofthedial]

2. when the catholic fundies "get medieval"

it makes the protestant fundyism of the US look like a day at the circus.

[charlyvi]

3. My only hope

is that anyone who would possibly fall for this bullshit probably doesn't know who Galileo is.

:eyes:

[smirkymonkey]

6. LOL! You are probably right!

What is with this backlash against science anyway? It seems like we are going back into the dark ages overnight!

[DemBones DemBones]

4. I just want to add that the Church has known for a LONG time that Galileo

was correct about the earth revolving around the sun and has long acknowledged its actions were wrong.

Pope John Paul II wanted to make a formal, public statement of apology (the same kind of gesture as Bill Clinton's apology for slavery), which has been widely misinterpreted by people as "The Catholics just now figured out Galileo was right."

Very FReeperish humor -- I've hard it from more than one RWer, and, sadly, from more than one DUer, too.

[KlatooBNikto]

14. Having disposed of the Galileo case after five hundred years they have

now decided to attack Evolution and advances in Genetic Engineering,including stem cell research. I wonder how long it will take for them to acknowledge they are wrong this time.

[Placebo]

5. As many have noted before...

none of this is "new" per se, but now that it isn't all wrapped in Giovanni Paolo II's warm 'n fuzzy package, well...there it is....

*laughs nervously*

:banghead:

[DemBones DemBones]

8. READ THE FREAKING ARTICLE, ALL YOU ANTI-CATHOLIC BIGOTS.

HERE'S AN EXCERPT:


"Galileo extrapolated scientific data and made conclusions in the fields of philosophy and theology, allegedly supposing both to be in the realm of science. The judges of the Inquisition made a parallel confusion when they condemned the scientific theories of the scholar, thinking that they were condemning the unsuitable philosophical and theological extrapolations of Galileo.

That is, both sides based their conclusions on a fundamental imprecision of terms as we understand them today. That imprecision is what fed the myth that the Church condemned science. All the ensuing attacks against the Inquisition and the Catholic Church have been made without taking this basic confusion into consideration."

[Maple]

10. Ahem...at that time

science, philosophy and theology were all the same thing.

The church was the sole answer to everything.

Anyone who thought that 'philosophy' or 'science' were separate fields entitled to their own worldviews were burned at the stake.

[Trajan]

11. Calm down, Holy one ...

or dont ....

Either way, know that MANY critics of the church are FORMER catholics .... baptised, communed and confirmed ....

I can never accept the term, 'anti-catholic bigot', knowing I was held fully in the uncomfortable bosum of the mother church .... Rejecting its creeds and actions is my right ....

[Brianboru]

9. This is news?

I learned this in High School. Catholic High School. Some folks prefer the Urban legend.

[Inland]

12. Whatever this source is, it ain't trustworthy, much less official.

I feel for Ratzinger: here's a site trying really hard, for some reason, to justify the inquisition of Galileo, including pooh-poohing statements by JPII in a way that seem jesuitical at best and simply dishonest at worst, and THAT'S the authoritative word on what the new pope thinks?

Some nutbags claim that they have allies you believe it?

[Spider Jerusalem]

13. To be fair...

this seems like a fringe site, even if you accept the Catholic belief system; I took a look at some of the other stuff there, and MOST of it seems to be bashing the Vatican for one thing or another (there are articles that are very much pro-Iraq war, for instance, among other things).

[thebaghwan]

15. A great book on this type of clash is The History of the Warfare between

Science and Theology in Christendom by Theodore White. A great read.