Galileo causes a stir

by our Rome correspondent THE case of Galileo Galilei, imprisoned by the Inquisition in 1633 for declaring that the earth rotated around the sun, again appears to be threatening to forge a schism between Pope John Paul U and one of the Vatican's highest authorities. This week in a statement published by a Catholic lay weekly, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was quoted as saying that the Pope's rehabilitation last year of the Tuscan scientist was "politically opportune" while the Inquisition's judgment of old was "rational and just".
John Paul began his rehabilitation of Galileo Galilei, a disciple of the Polish-born Copernicus, in 1979, just a year after his election.
This week, Cardinal Ratzinger was forced to modify his statement, which he said had been reproduced out of context.
time He had said, "at the t of Galileo, the church . . considered the ethical and social e consequnces of Galileo's doctrine. Its trial of Galileo was while its rational and just, current review can be justified only by reasons of political opportunity". The cardinal now stresses that he was quoting the German philosopher, Feyerabend.