Date: Sat Jan 31 2009 - 16:42:50 EST
Galileo statue nixed. (He doesn't look happy about it.)
http://scienceandreligiontoday.blogspot.com/2009/01/galileo-wont-get-vatican
-statue-anytime.html
<http://scienceandreligiontoday.blogspot.com/2009/01/galileo-wont-get-vatica
n-statue-anytime.html> Galileo Won't Get Vatican Statue Anytime Soon
Posted: 30 Jan 2009 07:02 PM CST
<http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4yND9fPzue0/SYN7YgYl0rI/AAAAAAAABbQ/A7v983qgU2Q/s
1600-h/galileo_hist_big%5B1%5D.png> Back
<http://scienceandreligiontoday.blogspot.com/2008/03/galileo-gets-statute-in
-vatican.html> in March, we told you about the Vatican's plans to erect a
statue of Galileo in its gardens-both to mark
<http://scienceandreligiontoday.blogspot.com/2009/01/happy-international-yea
r-of-astronomy.html> the 400th anniversary of his telescope and to help
fully
<http://scienceandreligiontoday.blogspot.com/2008/12/vaticans-extreme-galile
o-makeover.html> rehabilitate his image. (After the Catholic Church charged
the astronomer with heresy, he was forced to recant his scientific view of
heliocentrism-the idea that the Earth revolved around the sun-during his
1633 trial.)
Now, it seems the plan for the statue is on hold, indefinitely. Monsignor
Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, told
<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5612996.ece> The
Times that the statue had "only been an idea," which is now
"suspended"-though Galileo
<http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0900440.htm> "deserves all our
appreciation and gratitude."
Galileo, Ravasi said in a statement, can now be recognized "as a believer
who, in the context of his time, sought to reconcile the results of his
scientific researches with his Christian faith." And "the church wishes to
honor the figure of Galileo-innovative genius and son of the church," with a
number of initiatives this year.
But the statue is no longer one of them. According to Ravasi, the statue had
been designed, and a mold had been made, but the Vatican asked the project's
sponsor to divert the funds to projects in Nigeria and other places "to
foster a better understanding of the relationship between science and
religion." -Heather Wax
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