05 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Roberto Bellarmino's Condemnaton of Galileo's Theory
It seems to me that your Reverence and Signor Galileo act prudently when you content yourselves with speaking hypothetically and not absolutely, as I have always understood that Copernicus spoke. To say that on the supposition of the Earth's movement and the Sun's quiescence all the celestial appearances are explained better than by the theory of eccentrics and epicycles is to speak with excellent good sense and to run no risk whatsoever. Such a manner of speaking is enough for a mathematicia...The inquisitor responsible for Giordano Bruno's prosecution argues that Galileo's theory that the sun is the center of the Universe would refute scripture.