Catholic Church plans to honour Galileo with statue at the Vatican

BY ANNA ARCO
A STATUE of Galileo is to be erected in Vatican City, 400 years after the Italian astronomer was called there to letract teachings that were suspected of heresy.
The statue of the famous heliocentric astronomer was commissioned by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and paid for by private donations for the celebration of the International Year of Astronomy which takes place next year. It will also mark the 400th anniversary of Galileo's first use of the telescope as an instrument for understanding the solar system. Its future location is as yet unknown as the science academy is still working out where it will place the statue without marring the aesthetic beauty of the Renaissance buildings.
Nicola Cabibbo, the academy's president and a particle physicist at Sapienza University in Rome, said that the Vatican was enthusiastic about the idea, but that figuring out where to place the sculpture was a problem. He was, however, hopeful that something would be worked out in time for the jubilee next year.
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences originates from the Academic di Lincei, which was established in 1603 by Prince Federico Cesi and supported by Pope Clement VIII. Leading the academy was none other than Galileo Galilei. It was dissolved after the death of its founder and re-established twice, lastly in 1936 when it was given its present title.
Pope John Paul II rehabilitated Galileo in 1992 when he acknowledged that the Church had erred in its condemnation of Galileo and said that the astronomer had taught the Church a number of lessons about "the nature of science and the message of faith".
During the recent controversy over the Pope's can celled visit to Rome's Sapienza University, some of the academics maintained that Benedict XVI was hostile to science in part because of a misunderstanding over his attitude to Galileo. This was based on an erroneous entry on Wildpedia which claimed that Pope Benedict was against the rehabilitation of Galileo, based on a quote from a 1990 speech which had been decontextualised.
Galileo is often held up as an example to show the tensions between science and religion because he was condeemed for heresy in 1633 by the Holy Office.
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