Threatened with torture and interrogated for 18 days, the scientist, who was imprisoned in the 17th century, promised to never again teach the theory and spent the rest of his life under house arrest in his small farmhouse outside of Florence.
Galileo's fate was very
different from that of other scientists at the time of the Inquisition.
Some were executed for threatening the church's teachings. Italian
astronomer Giordano Bruno, an Italian philosopher who argued that the
universe was infinite, was burned at the stake.
Now in 2013, as Pope Francis
settles into his new role as leader of the Catholic Church, the
Vatican's head of science is urging a re-think of the
"mischaracterization" of the relationship between the church and
science.
The Vatican would like the world to see how much this relationship has changed.
With the new pope being
himself a trained scientist -- Francis graduated as a chemical
technician before moving on to study philosophy, psychology and theology
-- the timing could be right for a new era of cooperation between the
Vatican and science, building on the work of the STOQ Project --
Science, Theology and the Ontological Quest -- which was created by Pope
John Paul II in 2003.
Since his election as
pontiff, Vatican-watchers have been searching for signals about the
direction in which Francis will take the church.
Even in his inaugural
speech, he referenced the importance of environmental stewardship and an
appreciation of the natural world:
"Let us be "protectors" of creation, protectors of God's plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment."
According to Oxford
University theologian Dr. William Carroll, Pope Francis' remarks suggest
he may be planning to use his papacy to refocus the world's attention
on tackling global warming and other environmental issues.
Embracing science
Monsignor Tomasz Trafny,
the Director of the Vatican's Science and Faith Foundation, which was
created last year, thinks that the new pope will continue the progress
already made in building ties with the scientific community. He says the
Vatican today has a very positive relationship with science.
"There was a time when theologians thought they understood everything, but we learned the lesson from history", he told CNN.
Acknowledging that the
Galileo era was a dark period for the church, Trafny says that the
modern-day Vatican is much more careful not to tread on the toes of
science.
"If you look at what is
going on today you will see that theologians are very careful about what
they are thinking or speaking about related to scientific issues."
Trafny will co-host a
conference focusing on adult stem cell therapies with the pharmaceutical
company NeoStem at the Vatican on April 11, a project which the Vatican
has partly funded.
This unusual marriage of
church and biotech is a targeted public affairs initiative. The Vatican
aims to use the partnership to show people there is an alternative to
embryonic stem cell research - which it vehemently opposes - that
doesn't involve the destruction of human embryos.
"We want to tell people
that they can easily feel like good Catholics without any embarrassing
situations or difficulties embracing science."
Taboos remain
But even some within the
Vatican's own scientific community have concerns about the the church's
firm stance on other matters. As well as embryonic stem cell research,
the church, for instance, still rejects contraception, which is seen to
interfere with God's will.
Dr. Werner Arber, the
head of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and a Nobel Prize-winning
genetic scientist, says in some areas the Vatican's approach remains
problematic. He works as an adviser to the Vatican on matters of
scientific development and regularly provides recommendations on areas
of overlap between science and faith.
Speaking to CNN, Arber
said that rather than dealing head on with conflicts between science and
the Bible, scientists like him often had to avoid them:
"I don't propose certain topics which I consider taboo. Unless we are asked, we had better not mention them."
In particular, Arber is
uncomfortable with the Vatican's insistence that condoms aren't the
right way to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, which he says is
"unrealistic."
The church maintains that condoms promote promiscuity.
Both the World Health Organization and the United Nations regard condoms
as highly effective at preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS, which kills
over a million people globally every year.
Arber euphemistically
says he's hopeful that the new Pope Francis will help the church "move
things forward" when it comes to tackling HIV/AIDS.
Sticking points
Jeremy Webb,
editor-in-chief of New Scientist magazine, also hopes the Catholic
Church under Pope Francis will make an exception to its stance on condom
use to fight the global HIV/AIDS epidemic.
He says the speed at
which new developments are emerging in the biological sciences is
increasingly bringing about conflicts with the Vatican. In particular
Webb sees this in relation to reproductive technologies -- such as in
vitro fertilization (IVF), and egg and sperm donation -- all of which
the church says are improper methods of procreation.
"The church is taking
its viewpoint from 2,000-year-old teachings and trying to apply them to a
modern world, which is delivering all sorts of moral dilemmas," he said
to CNN.
Webb doubts there will
be any significant change in the Vatican's fundamental attitude to
contraception under Francis and believes this will remain a sticking
point between the biological sciences and the church.
"Catholics believe that
anything that threatens the sanctity of life - including contraception -
is wrong. That is a barrier and it will always be a barrier."
There have been no
signals yet as to whether Pope Francis will bring about a softening of
the Vatican's stance on issues such as condom-use as means to prevent
suffering and early death.
Werner Arber is
optimistic that the Vatican will eventually catch up with the scientific
evidence: "I have hope but - as with Galileo -- it will take a long
time."