La Sapienza row triggered by mistake on Wikipedia

BY ED WEST
LAST motsrni's protest by staff and students at La Sapienza University was a result of a mistake on a 'leading intemet site, according to the Vatican's daily newspaper.
L 'Osservatore Romano claims that the protest was caused by an inaccuracy on Wik.ipedia, the free encyclopaedia written by members of the public.
"In the name of liberty and the investigation of science, they have taken as true a falsehood, accepting an affirmation without proving its credibility," the newspaper said.
"What is surprising is that the person who copied the citation could not have read the complete Wilcipedia entry, which enables one to realise that the meaning of Ratzinger's phrase is exactly the opposite to what the 67 professors have aimed to attribute to the Pope."
Pope Benedict XVI cancelled his planned visit to the ancient university after hundreds of teachers and students protested at what they described as his "hostility to science".
The protest was held partly over a speech that the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger gave in 1990, in which the protesters wrongly claimed he defended the Church's mistreatment of 17th-century scientist Galileo Galilei.