Professional paper
Galileo Galilei - the history of a case
Ivan Kešina
; Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Split
Antun Radošević
; Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb
Abstract
This work treats the causes that led to the conflict between Galileo Galilei and Church institutions with regard to embracing, promoting and teaching the Copernican planetary system, which led to two legal proceedings against Galileo (in 1616 and 1632) and sentence against him. All the afore-said and the harmful effects on the Church that arose from that are known under the name “Galileo Case”.
The first part analyses Galileo’s astronomic and physical discoveries that brought him to accept and promote Copernicanism. The second part analyses the “Galilei Case”, i.e. the course of the proceedings led against Galileo, as well as the repercussions and consequences of Galileo’s sentence. The third part deals with the efforts of Church to overcome the “Galileo Case”, and with regard to it the efforts of Pope John Paul II are especially significant as he had always urged to reconsider the “Galileo Case” as well as the similar “cases” of Church history, not so much to judge the past, but not to repeat similar mistakes in the present creating in that way liability for the future. He holds that the clarifications gained by some recent researches allow us to claim that misunderstanding belongs to the past.
Keywords
Galileo Galilei; geocentrism; heliocentrism; overcome the “Galileo Case”
Hrčak ID:
45398
URI
Publication date:
21.12.2009.
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