The Pope honors astronomer Galileo

Yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI gave words of praise to the famous 17th-century astronomer Galileo Galilei, who had scientific theories that had been opposed by the Catholic Church for centuries.

Astronomer Galileo Galilei.Photos: Wikipedia.

The papal pastor had a speech on the 400th anniversary of Galileo's first astronomical observations with a telescope. The head of the Vatican said that understanding the laws of nature could prompt a deep awareness of the work of the Lord.

In 1992, the late Pope John Paul II once assessed the church's condemnation of Galileo's doctrine as a tragic mistake. Born this astronomer used his scientific methods to prove that the earth is orbiting the sun, not the sun orbiting the earth like faith of the time.

The view of Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) directly challenged the Christian Church of his time which had the view that the earth stood still and was the center of the universe. So the astronomer was accused of being heretical in 1633 and was forced to publicly withdraw his doctrines.

He spent the rest of his life in a state of confinement at the residence on a hillside, the outskirts of Florence flourishing in prosperity in Italy in the 17th century.