F. The Galileo Case.
The Roman Congregations are no more infallible than our bishops and pastors. And yet there is practically but one case, during more than three centuries, in which they are accused of having made a mistake. It is the condemnation, by both the Holy Office and the Index, of Galileo Galilei Linceo (died 1639) for defending the theory that the earth moves around its own axis and around the sun.
This teaching was according to the common belief of Catholics and Protestants, at that time, clearly opposed to Holy Scripture, which the Church was bound to vindicate. If Galileo’s theory was true, the traditional interpretation of sundry Bible texts would have had to be abandoned.
The Church had weighty reasons for not allowing this. The new theory was not at all certain. Galileo himself admitted he could not establish more than a probability. [45] ]Several very obvious objections he was unable to explain satisfactorily. None of the real proofs used in our days were known to him. He was told by the Jesuit Cardinal Bellarmin, if he could advance any convincing proof for his theory, the traditional interpretation of those passages would be given up. But all Galileo had to offer was an ingenious hypothesis. Had he advocated it as such with due respect for the time-honored interpretation of the Book of Books, had he not used bold, sometimes bitter and defying language, no steps would have been taken against him, who had until then been a favorite of the pope and of many dignitaries. As matters stood, “the Church could wait for the education of a physical system, but she could not allow a change in the universally accepted interpretation of Scripture, before the necessity of such a change was proved.” (Guggenberger, History of the Christian Era. Vol. II, pp. 456, etc.)
“The marvelous unanimity of the enemies of the Church in concentrating all their attacks against the Roman Congregation [46] ]on the case of Galileo, is a striking negative testimony to the value of the decisions of courts which have been at work for centuries.” (Rome.)
G. State and Protestant Book Laws.
As we have already remarked, Henry VIII continued his policy of proscribing books opposed to his views long after he had constituted himself the head of the English Church. Between 1526 and 1546 there were issued by the King’s authority nine catalogues of books which Englishmen were forbidden to read. Among these books were the works of the continental “reformers”; for some years the English Bible; also writings against the King’s matrimonial projects.
The Protestants on the continent followed the same system. Calvin condemned a Spanish physician, who happened to come to Geneva, to be burned at the stake, because he had written a heretical book. The Protestant princes and republics had each its special book-legislation, which was made [47] ]to serve not only religious but also political purposes.
After the middle of the eighteenth century, in almost all Catholic countries, the civil power usurped the monopoly of proscribing books, and practiced it in a truly despotic way. Thus in Austria 639 books were forbidden within five years. No book was allowed to be printed without previous permission, not even on forestry or cattle-raising. Bishops were severely reproved for enforcing the prohibitions of the Roman Index in their seminaries.
Napoleon I had a publisher shot, practically without trial, for issuing a work contrary to his political plans. One book was publicly burned because it contained the picture of Pius VII. To enable the authorities to control the book trade more effectively, no printing establishment was allowed to have, in Paris more than four, and in the provinces more than two, presses.