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Galileo versus the Catholic Church

Decent Essays

“Letters on the Solar Spots” was made public in 1613. Copernicus’s theory was openly discussed in this letter (Galilei and Drake, 145). Copernicus proposed than an axis-revolving Earth circumnavigated around the heart of the universe, the Sun (Andrade, 120). Father Lorini, a Dominican friar and professor of ecclesiastical history in Florence, was among the first to criticize Galileo for his Copernican views (Linder). The Copernican theory contravened the belief of the Holy Scripture that the Earth was in the middle of the universe (Andrade, 125). Lorini used Joshua 10:13 and Isaiah 40:22 as support. Joshua 10:13 states that “So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven”. Isaiah 40:22 talks about “the heavens stretched out as a curtain” above “the circle of the earth” (Linder). Galileo’s “Letter to Castelli” in December of 1613 was a reply to the condemnation he received due to his beliefs about the Copernicus theory. Galileo proposed in the letter that certain things in the Scripture were not to be taken literally. This letter only increased the amount of criticism towards Galileo (Andrade, 125). Father Lorini then took the drastic step of getting the Catholic Church involved. Lorini sent an altered copy of “Letter to Castelli” to the Roman Inquisition. Lorini altered the text of the letter to make it appear that Galileo directly pronounced the Scriptures as false. Lorini was not the only enemy of Galileo however. Father Tommasco Caccini was also a staunch opponent of

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