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KF5JRV > TODAY 12.04.26 14:04l 35 Lines 2299 Bytes #60 (0) @ WW
BID : 10129_KD5TCY
Subj: Today in History - Apr 12
Path: ED1ZAC<ED1ZAC<LU4ECL<VK2RZ<N6PNK<VE3CGR<KD5TCY
Sent: 260412/0954Z 10129@KD5TCY.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQK6.0.24
On April 12, 1633, chief inquisitor Father Vincenzo Maculani da Firenzuola, appointed by Pope Urban VIII, begins
the inquisition of physicist and astronomer Galileo Galilei. Galileo was ordered to turn himself in to the Holy
Office to begin trial for holding the belief that the Earth revolves around the sun, which was deemed heretical
by the Catholic Church. Standard practice demanded that the accused be imprisoned and secluded during the trial.
This was the second time that Galileo was in the hot seat for refusing to accept Church orthodoxy that the Earth
was the immovable center of the universe: In 1616, he had been forbidden from holding or defending his beliefs.
In the 1633 interrogation, Galileo denied that he “heldö belief in the Copernican view but continued to write about
the issue and evidence as a means of “discussionö rather than belief. The Church had decided the idea that the
sun moved around the Earth was an absolute fact of scripture that could not be disputed, despite the fact that
scientists had known for centuries that the Earth was not the center of the universe.
This time, Galileo’s technical argument didn’t win the day. On June 22, 1633, the Church handed down the following
order: “We pronounce, judge, and declare, that you, the said Galileo… have rendered yourself vehemently suspected
by this 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 that it does not move from east to west, and
that the earth does move, and is not the center of the world.ö
Along with the order came the following penalty: “We order that by a public edict the book of Dialogues of Galileo
Galilei be prohibited, and We condemn thee to the prison of this Holy Office during Our will and pleasure; and as
a salutary penance We enjoin on thee that for the space of three years thou shalt recite once a week the Seven
Penitential Psalms.ö
Galileo agreed not to teach the heresy anymore and spent the rest of his life under house arrest. It took more
than 300 years for the Church to admit that Galileo was right and to clear his name of heresy.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
Email KF5JRV@gmail.com
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