TWO MONKS who were addicted to smoking often debated between themselves whether it was sinful to smoke during prayer periods. Eventually they decided to approach the abbot individually to seek this permission to smoke during prayer. The monks met afterwards to discuss the outcome.
Monk number one reported that he had a disastrous meeting with the abbot, who had refused his request, and had given him extra penance to do. "What question did you ask the abbot?" asked monk number two. "I asked him if it was OK to smoke while praying," replied monk number one.
Monk number two then reported on a highly successful meeting with the abbot. His request for permission to smoke was granted and the abbot commended him on his worthy attitude. "Good God," gasped monk number one, "What question did you ask the abbot?"
"I asked him if it was OK to pray while smoking," replied monk number two.
This story illustrates smart strategic thinking in a religious setting. Evidence has now emerged that Pope Urban VIII, who ordered the famous trial of Galileo, was using similar fancy footwork, designed to protect Galileo from a possible death sentence.
The story of Galileo is a spectacular example of conflict between science and religion. Brought to trial before the Roman Inquisition at the age of 69, he was forced to recant his teaching, had his book banned and was placed under house arrest for the remaining eight years of his life.
There are many aspects to the story, however, that have puzzled historians of science. For example, the trial of Galileo related to the contents of his book Dialogue concerning the Two Chief World Systems. But Galileo had submitted the book to the church censors before publication and they had agreed that it was not in conflict with church dogma. Also, Pope Urban VIII was a friend and supporter of Galileo.
So why did the Pope bring Galileo to trial?
EVIDENCE is now available which suggests that the trial of Galileo was a clever ruse perpetrated by the Pope to charge Galileo with disobeying a church edict, the penalty for which was a term of imprisonment, thereby protecting him from a potential charge of heresy, the penalty for which was death.
The new evidence is detailed in a book entitled Galileo Heretic by Pietro Redondi, published by Princeton University Press.
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) is one of the most famous names in the history of science. He was a founder of the experimental method and the first person to study the skies with a telescope. He developed the astronomical telescope, discovered the tour main satellites of Jupiter, observed the stars of the Milky Way, craters on the moon, and found that the planet Venus showed phases.
Galileo was an advocate of the theory of the Polish astronomer Nikelaus Copernicus (1473-1543). Copernicus argued that the Earth and the other planets orbited the sun, which was in the centre. He also claimed that the Earth revolved on its own axis.
This theory was contrary to the conventional view, brought to a high point by Ptolemy (AD120-180). In the Ptolemaic system, the earth is stationary at the centre of the universe, with the sun, planets, moon and stars revolving around it. The Ptolemaic picture harmonised with Aristotelian philosophy, which was used in arguing the theological basis of Catholicism.
Although, strictly speaking, it wasn't necessary that all science be grounded in Aristotelian philosophy to be acceptable to the church, nevertheless Aristotle's thoughts were very powerful in shaping the way general issues were framed. To dispute Aristotelian philosophy, as Galileo did in Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, was therefore unpopular with the church.
Galileo demonstrated the bankruptcy of much of the Aristotelian philosophy and showed that the Copernican model could explain certain facts about the Earth - tidal behaviour, for example - which could not be satisfactorily explained by the traditional model.
In 1616 the Pope created a commission to investigate Copernicus's ideas. This resulted in the edict of 1616 which prohibited the publication of books that asserted the truth of the Copernican model or tried to reconcile it with the Bible. Teaching Copernicanism in hypothetical terms, however, was not banned.
The edict of 1616 is important because of the strange circumstances under which the commission's findings were delivered to Galileo. These circumstances served as the eventual basis for his trial.
According to an unsigned notarial document in the files of the Inquisition, the commission informed Galileo that they found Copernicus wrong in teaching the revolution of the Earth and the central location of the sun and told him that he must not hold, defend or teach Copernican ideas on pain of imprisonment. The addition of the verb "to teach" goes beyond the terms of the edict. The notarial document must be treated with suspicion since it was unsigned.
Galileo denied any recollection of having been informed as the document asserts. The document may have been placed in the files of the Inquisition by one of Galileo's many enemies.
Redondi introduces a new explanation for the Galileo affair. He claims that the real reason Galileo fell so dramatically out of favour with the church was that, in a book called The Assayer, he espoused the theory of atomism - that matter is basically composed of atoms that cannot change their nature from one form to another. The church was opposed to the theory.
This was the period of the Counter Reformation, a great missionary effort to recover areas lost to Protestantism. The Jesuits played a leading part in the Counter Reformation and also dominated the Inquisition.
In their eyes, the concept of unchangeable matter posed great problems for the doctrine of Transubstantiation. Transubstantiation is at the heart of the Mass, where Catholics believe that bread and wine literally change into the body and the blood of Christ. If this doctrine were to be successfully challenged, all Catholics might as well be Protestants.
REDONDI has discovered a new document, on the basis of which he attempts to answer the many questions surrounding the trial. The document is a denunciation of the theory of atomism as delineated by Galileo. Redondi attributes the document to Orazio Grassi, a Jesuit father and an old enemy of Galileo's, whose ideas Galileo had cut to ribbons in The Assayer.
Redondi speculates that Grassi sent this document to Pope Urban VIII, thereby posing a huge dilemma for him. If Galileo were accused of teaching atomism and thereby denying Transubstantiation, he might have been convicted of heresy which was punishable by death.
If the Jesuits were out to get Galileo, this was a potentially serious matter. The order was very powerful politically, and the Pope had to walk a tightrope between different political factions. Redondi hypothesises that the Pope took pre emptive action in order to protect his friend Galileo and arranged to have him tried on a charge of infringing the edict of 1616.
Galileo suffered only a nominal imprisonment after his trial a sort of house arrest in the palace of a friend. In his retirement he was able to complete his work on dynamics and statics and to publish it in the latter years of his life. Galileo's work struck a mortal blow at the fossilised medieval view of how the world is structured, how it works and how it should be investigated.
Galileo died in 1642. In 1992, Pope John Paul II apologised to Galileo for the manner in which he was treated by the church. I suppose it is unlikely that Galileo will sue for damages.
. An e-mail transmission error caused a mistake in last week's column in the name of the German chemist, Friedrich August Kekule, which appeared without its accent.