On what date did Pope John-paul II release Gallileo and for what reason?

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I would like to know the date and reason Pope John-Paul II released Galaleo from purgatory?

-- Howard Gorden (SHGorden@earthlink.net), August 27, 1999

Answers

Response to On what date did Pope John-paul II release Galaleo and for what reason?

Is this a trick question for a Pope cannot release anyone from Purgatory only God the Father through Christ. +Peace+

-- jean bouchardRC, (jeanb@cwk.imag.net), August 28, 1999.

Response to On what date did Pope John-paul II release Galaleo and for what reason?

Dear Howard, Galaleo? I think you mean Galileo. I wasn't aware that the pope had the list of who's in purgatory. Even if he did, life in the hereafter is under the control of God, not the pope. If this was supposed to be a trick question, it wasn't a very good one. Why do you think that Galileo supposed to be in purgatory? Ellen

-- Ellen K. hornby (dkh@canada.com), August 28, 1999.

Response to On what date did Pope John-paul II release Galaleo and for what reason?

I recall reading that Pope John-Paul II made some sort of statement regarding Galileo in the past five years or so. Maybe it was to officially lift his excommunication. No clue about the purgatory thing since I don't believe in it in the first place ;-)

-- David Bowerman (dbowerman@blazenet.net), August 28, 1999.

Response to On what date did Pope John-paul II release Galaleo and for what reason?

I cannot remember the date, but what the Pope did was to apologise to Galileo for the exagerated condemnation to silence he was imposed. By the way, he was never excommunicated and died attended by the church, having received all the sacraments usually given to every catholic in a near-death situation (confession, viaticum and unction). The penalty was to remain silent (meaning not publishing new books)and in a sort of home-imprisonment (we call it "carcere privado" in portuguese, I don4t know the english technical term for that. As far as I know, this move by the Pope was intended to put an end to a near 400 years celeuma.

-- Atila (me@somewhere.com), September 05, 1999.

Response to On what date did Pope John-paul II release Galaleo and for what reason?

Good Grief!! Are you people telling the world is round and the photos from space are no phony??? My Falt Earth Membership says otherwise. +Peace+

-- jean bouchardRC (jeanb@cwk.imag.net), September 05, 1999.


Response to On what date did Pope John-paul II release Galaleo and for what reason?

[edit for content. Moderator]

-- Yeah it is. (Noneya@AOL.com), December 22, 2000.

Response to On what date did Pope John-paul II release Galaleo and for what reason?

Who is the Pope anyway? The pope has not advanced man nor science in anyway. Galaleo was a man of vision, a man that would influence the likes of Sir Issac Newton and the better understanding of the world and universe we all live in. If there was a "God" i don't see have he could punish a man such as Galaleo for all the insight he gave us, man would of never even thought of going to the moon or beyond without Galaeo.

-- Bobby Santangelo (antichrist_svperstar_77@yahoo.com), February 13, 2001.

Response to On what date did Pope John-paul II release Galaleo and for what reason?

Bobby, read Newtons proofs of religion. He strongly believed in God.

Nobody is saying God punished Galileo.

The Church was worried that what Galileo said would undermine the sanctity of human life by shifting focus away. It is also important to note that GALILEO WASN'T RIGHT EITHER!!!!

Before him, man had a GEOcentric view of the universe, ie the universe revolves around the earth. After him, the view had shifted to a HELIOcentric view of the universe, ie the universe revolves around the sun (which wasn't right, either). It appears that you subscribe to the EGOcentric view of the universe, ie. the universe revolves around you. please do your homework before posting in the future.

................................

-- anthony (fides_spes_et_caritas@hotmail.com), February 13, 2001.


Response to On what date did Pope John-paul II release Galaleo and for what reason?

Galileo was a scientist and the job of a scientist is to try to find answers to questions that can improve our understanding of the universe we live in. While searching for the answers they may only find pieces of the truth, when they do (or think they do) they form theories. These theories are put before the masters of the respective discipline and they try desperately (and most often do) disprove it. A few great scientists’ theories have withstood this onslaught and have risen to advance our understanding to a greater degree than others. Sir Isaac Newton, Copernicus, Albert Einstein and Galileo were men that dared to contest the popular belief of their day. The church (at this time) liked things to stay in a state of conservatism. This way they could continue to build and control their membership. Aristotle proposed a geocentric universe centuries before and it had become the universally accepted truth. This is partially because the church had given it’s blessing to his work and many of the scientists of the day had close ties to the church. When Copernicus proposed a heliocentric universe, based on his observations, the church did not fear him as extensively because he had no proof to support his theory. Galileo presented the proof to support Copernicus’s theory; he saw four moons rotating around Jupiter. The church feared his discovery so much that they refused repeated invitations to look for themselves, instead they forced him to retract his statements and then placed him under house arrest so he could no longer contaminate the common philosophy. It took the church hundreds of years to undo this injustice, which was accomplished by the current Pope formally apologizing for the church’s unfairness in this matter. The reason this went virtually unnoticed is that the our current knowledge of science places Galileo as one of the great scientific minds in all of history. Despite the churches insistent belief of the geocentric theory, the scientific community and eventually all mankind firmly embraced the Copernican theory based on Galileo’s observations. As scientists continue to hammer at the answers to seemingly impossible questions, eventually all theories will come together in to one unified theory that explains everything in our universe. When (and if) this happens some say, we will truly know the mind of God.

-- Richard Taylor (richard.taylor@gene.ge.com), April 17, 2001.

Response to On what date did Pope John-paul II release Galaleo and for what reason?

Jmj

Hello, Richard.
I was sorry to read your message, since it is a mixture of facts, half-truths, and fictions (the kind of things handed down by imperfectly informed folks through the generations, or seen on a poorly researched TV program).

I recommend to you -- and to everyone here -- that you read a scholarly and not-too-long online research paper on the subject of Galileo. I think that it will be a real eye-opener.

But even if you decide not to read it, I wish to ask you to avoid using a certain expression -- "the church" -- when you write/talk about this subject in the future. The truthful and fair thing to do is to name specific people or to describe groups of people within the Catholic Church who are the subject of your statement/criticism. It is extremely unjust and inaccurate to generalize by using the term, "the church."
You stated: "The church (at this time) liked things to stay in a state of conservatism. This way they could continue to build and control their membership." [But you go on to mention Copernicus. Did you know that he was "FATHER Mikolaj Kopernik," a Polish Catholic priest? It is an anti-Catholic myth to say that the leaders of the Church have been against learning more and more scientific facts. Learning more scientific truths would not prevent the Church from attracting more converts, so your point was not made. Moreover, you slandered the Church's leaders by painting all of them as desiring to "control their membership," as though they were puppeteers.]

You went on: "Galileo presented the proof to support Copernicus’s theory ... The church feared his discovery ... [T]he scientific community and eventually all mankind firmly embraced the Copernican theory based on Galileo’s observations."
Besides the fact that you inaccurately refer to "the church" as fearing something, your statements are simply not correct. Proof WAS lacking, and Church leaders acted against Galileo out of motivations other than "fear."
As the research paper explains: "The difficulty that Galileo encountered with Church authorities, then, was that he appeared to attack the veracity of Scripture by teaching Copernican theory as truth, rather than hypothesis. He had no acceptable proof for his belief that the earth revolved around the sun. He had attempted to make such proofs through an argument based on the earth's tides (a scientifically incorrect one), but 17th century science simply was incapable of establishing that the earth did, in fact, orbit the sun. And, finally, he appeared to be openly challenging a Church edict to which he had earlier agreed."

It is true that certain actions taken by certain churchmen against Galileo were unjust and required an apology, Richard, but I could not allow an injustice to be done to Catholicism as a whole by ignoring the inaccuracies in your message.

St. James, pray for us. Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.
God bless you.
John
PS: You wrote: "As scientists continue to hammer at the answers to seemingly impossible questions, eventually all theories will come together in to one unified theory that explains everything in our universe. When (and if) this happens some say, we will truly know the mind of God." But these seem to be two mutually contradictory sentences. The first is the kind of pride-filled thing I would expect from the late Carl "Billions" Sagan -- stating that man will come to know everything. But the second sentence is more cautious -- with its "(and if)" clause that admits that man may never know everything. Which one did you really mean to say?

-- J. F. Gecik (jgecik@desc.dla.mil), April 18, 2001.



Response to On what date did Pope John-paul II release Galaleo and for what reason?

I'll be curious to see if Richard Taylor can answer you, John. My feeling is, he will just fold his tent and disappear, since his post simply ''got the word out'', the Catholic Church is anti-science. I was tempted to answer him, but I desisted. I knew my response would seem confrontational. I have to lay low; too many folks are turned off by my impatience with these jokers. Have you noticed AlexJr got himself posted here in Greenspun, with a wicked title: ''The Catholic Church and all its Abominations'' . . . ? He hasn't gotten one hit, except mine, I guess. Truly a sickness.

-- eugene c. chavez (chavezec@pacbell.net), April 18, 2001.

Response to On what date did Pope John-paul II release Galaleo and for what reason?

God is the only one with control over purgatory. The pope can't do anything about it especially since once you're in purgatory, you're dead.

-- Ryan Baggett (baggett_ryan@hotmail.com), December 31, 2001.

Response to On what date did Pope John-paul II release Galaleo and for what reason?

Mr. Baggett,
The suffering souls in Purgatory are saved, they will never undergo punishment after leaving Purgatory. They will enter into God's eternal glory, heaven.

God has control, but the Church is in the Holy Spirit's care, our Paraclete. Those souls in Purgatory live in communion with the Church one earth. The living Christian on earth is part of the Church Militant. The souls in Purgatory live in the Church Suffering; and the souls in glory are in the Church Triumphant. All One Church! NONE of the souls were discussing is DEAD. The body dies, in the world; and the souls lives.

God has control over Purgatory because He's God. But the saints on earth CAN pray for the poor souls in Purgatory; and petition Our Almighty Father through Jesus Christ for the release of the suffering souls. It's prayer that the souls in Purgatory need desperately. Yours and mine. God can still ''control'' the outcome; by hearing and answering-- or delaying His answer as He pleases.

The Catholic Church has in her means the distribution to her faithful any and all the graces merited by Jesus Christ on Calvary; depending on God's divine Will. Among these graces are the granting of outright indulgences. The canonization of her saints, the power of the Eucharistic offering to Our Father in Jesus Christ. This is a lot of ''clout''; but always with the knowledge that ''Man proposes, and God disposes.'' Never with a spirit of presumption.

-- eugene c. chavez (chavezec@pacbell.net), December 31, 2001.


Response to On what date did Pope John-paul II release Galaleo and for what reason?

Pope John-Paul II released Galileo from purgatory on October 31, 1992.

-- Ari Golub (Arisim2401@AOL.com), February 24, 2002.

Response to On what date did Pope John-paul II release Galaleo and for what reason?

Just for that smart crack, Ari, you will take his place there until the end of the world ;=)

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), February 25, 2002.


Response to On what date did Pope John-paul II release Galaleo and for what reason?

I should point out that the Holy Office's finding against Galileo in 1633 was effectively quashed a few years later. What the Pope did in 1992 was merely to explicitly endorse Galileo's philosophy of the relation between scientific facts and religious truth. What got Galileo into trouble at the time was his abrasive personality and stubborn insistence that only he knew the correct way to interpret the scriptures. In addition he was caught in the intellectual crossfire between two Roman political parties who were using the scientific disputes of the time. It is amazing to see some people still rehashing the lies about Galileo's case which were invented by English and Dutch Protestant pamphleteers in the 17th century. Re the church of the time being anti-science, did you know the Pope at the time of Galileo's trial wrote and published a poem praising Galileo and the new discoveries seen through "Galileo's Glass" (telesope)? The "sentence" on Galileo was merely that he recite seven Psalms on seven consecutive Sundays. Even this slight penance was permitted to be done by Galileo's daughter in his place. (Both of his daughters were nuns.) Galileo was not forbidden from publishing any work except on the subject of the relevance of the new astronomical discoveries and theories to the interpretation of scripture. But as he was by then nearly 70 years old and going blind, his working life was almost over. (He published a major mathematical work in 1638.) Galileo was an exemplary practising Catholic in all ways except for his failure to formally marry the mother of his three children. His motive for this seems have been not an aversion to marriage, but simply that as his family were minor aristocrats (although not rich) he could not marry a "commoner". Such snobbery was accepted in those days. (He arranged for his son to be "legitimised" by the civil authorities.) Galileo had tried to become a priest as a young man, but his father recalled him from the monastery because he needed Galileo to work to help support the family. Galileo knew his "trial" was a mere formality. After he formally stated in Latin, as required, that the sun does not move, he added in Italian in an audible stage whisper "But it does move anyway". This contempt of court was disregarded, showing that all present understood the farcical nature of the proceedings. For historical facts, try reading "Galileo, Science and the Church" (I forget the author's name) or for a popular treatment read Dava Sobel's "Galileo's Daughter".

-- P Gilfedder (gilfedd@curie.dialix.com.au), January 01, 2003.

Response to On what date did Pope John-paul II release Galaleo and for what reason?

Oops! the above reference to "the sun" should of course read "the earth".

-- Peter Gilfedder (gilfedd@curie.dialix.com.au), January 01, 2003.

Response to On what date did Pope John-paul II release Galaleo and for what reason?

Bravo, Mr. Gilfedder!
One small error (which you saw and corrected) is a good sign you weren't copying and pasting out of someone else's works. That makes your post even better reading. Happy New Year!

-- eugene c. chavez (chavezec@pacbell.net), January 01, 2003.

Response to On what date did Pope John-paul II release Galaleo and for what reason?

Thanks for your kind comments. Another inconvenient fact for those who claim the Church was opposed to scientific progress: The German philosopher Nicholas of Cusa taught, 200 years before Galileo, that the earth moves through space. The pope subsequently made him a bishop and a cardinal, against the objections of the civil authorities. Interestingly, his works are widely studied today in continental Europe and even in Japan, but almost never in English- speaking countries.

-- P Gilfedder (gilfedd@curie.dialix.com.au), January 28, 2003.

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