The Trial of Galileo

In 1615 Galileo Galilei was denounced to the Holy Office in Rome for holding that the sun stands still and the earth moves (Galileo trial documents, sentence of 22 June 1633 (Opere 19, pp. 402–406)). That year he argued in a letter to the Grand Duchess Christina that Scripture and nature both come from God, that the Bible speaks in terms suited to common understanding, and that what the senses and necessary demonstrations establish should not be called in question on the strength of biblical passages (Galileo, Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina, opening argument on Scripture and nature). Cardinal Robert Bellarmine wrote in April 1615 that the earth’s motion was harmless as a hypothesis but, asserted as fact, contradicted the common reading of the Fathers, which the Council of Trent forbade; were it truly demonstrated, he added, the contrary passages would have to be explained with great caution; but he did not believe there was such a demonstration (Bellarmine, Letter to Foscarini, points 1–3).

On 24 February 1616 the theologians consulted by the Holy Office judged the proposition that the sun is the motionless centre of the world “foolish and absurd” in philosophy and formally heretical, and the motion of the earth at least erroneous in faith (Galileo trial documents, censure of 24 February 1616 (Opere 19, pp. 320–321)). The minutes record that the pope then had Bellarmine warn Galileo to give up the opinion, that the commissary of the Holy Office ordered him not to hold, teach or defend it in any way, and that Galileo promised to obey (Galileo trial documents, minutes of 25 and 26 February 1616 (Opere 19, pp. 321–322)). On 5 March the Congregation of the Index suspended Copernicus’s book until it should be corrected (Galileo trial documents, decree of the Index, 5 March 1616 (Opere 19, pp. 322–323)).

The sentence of 1633 says that Galileo’s Dialogue, printed at Florence the year before, defended the condemned opinion, and that he had obtained leave to print it without mentioning the order of 1616 (Galileo trial documents, sentence of 22 June 1633 (Opere 19, pp. 402–406)). On 16 June Pope Urban VIII decided that he should be questioned about his intention under threat of torture, should abjure and be imprisoned, and that the book should be banned (Galileo trial documents, decree of 16 June 1633 (Opere 19, pp. 282–283)). The record of the examination five days later shows the threat put to him in words, his answer that he had not held the opinion since the order, and his dismissal to his lodging (Galileo trial documents, examination of 21 June 1633 (Opere 19, pp. 361–362)).

On 22 June the cardinal inquisitors, seven of whom signed the sentence, declared him “vehemently suspected” of heresy, prohibited the Dialogue, and condemned him to imprisonment at their pleasure and to recite the seven penitential psalms weekly for three years (Galileo trial documents, sentence of 22 June 1633 (Opere 19, pp. 402–406)). Kneeling, he abjured (Galileo trial documents, abjuration of 22 June 1633 (Opere 19, pp. 406–407)). The next day the pope changed the place of confinement to the grand duke of Tuscany’s palace in Rome, a week later to Siena, and in December to Galileo’s own house at Arcetri, where he was to live in seclusion (Galileo trial documents, decrees of 23 June, 30 June and 1 December 1633 (Opere 19, pp. 284–286)).

In 1992 Pope John Paul II said that most theologians of the time had failed to distinguish Scripture from its interpretation and had wrongly carried a question of scientific fact into the domain of faith, and that Galileo had seen this more clearly than they (John Paul II, Address of 31 October 1992, §§5, 9).