Press & Media

Florence, 26-30 May 2009 

International Conference "Galileo's case"

The condemnation of Galileo Galilei was the result of a "tragic reciprocal misunderstanding between the scientist from Pisa and the judges of the Inquisition", as stated by Pope John Paul II in 1992, in an authoritative statement that needs no further comment.

Nonetheless many people in the scientific and religious worlds maintained that the entire episode required further study to produce a calm and objective historical judgement capable of transcending any strictly ideological opposition.
 
The occasion arrived with an important celebration - the 400th anniversary of Galileo's use of the telescope for astronomical purposes - which gained the recognition of the UN general assembly. In memory of that key moment in the history of science, the assembly decreed 2009 to be the International Year of Astronomy.

The celebration provided the occasion for the Niels Stensen Institute, directed by the Jesuits in Florence, to organise an international convention (May 26-30) in the Tuscan city. The event involved more than 18 different lay and religious institutions of various types regarding a theme that the title of the initiative effectively expresses: The "Galileo Case": historical, philosophical and theological interpretation.

The institutional component was of a high profile, symbolized by the fact that the convention received the patronage of the President of the Republic, in addition to the President of the Council of Ministers and the Cultural Heritage Ministry. More concretely, the President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano was present at the inauguration of the event in the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence, where lectiones magistrales were given by Paolo Rossi, history of science professor and professor emeritus at the University of Florence, and also Nicola Cabibbo, president of the Pontifical Academy of Science.

Representing Finmeccanica, which is part of the promotional committee for the convention (and which already organized the convention Science 400 Years After Galileo Galilei a few months ago), was Remo Pertica, who recalled in his inaugural address that "for Finmeccanica the quest for knowledge is the basis of the Group's actions," adding that the event in Florence represented "a way for the Group to contribute, at least in a small way, to facilitating a fruitful meeting between faith and science, while keeping alive the attention given to such a crucial theme as the importance of scientific and technological research in Italy."

After the inauguration, the three-day event took place in Florence's Palazzo dei Congressi, during which more than thirty historians, theologians, philosophers and scientists discussed a re-reading of the trial of Galileo Galilei. It was a preparation for the concluding event, on May 30th, in which Evandro Agazzi, Paolo Galluzzi, Paolo Prodi and Adriano Prosperi discussed the actuality of the "Galileo case" while at the same time analyzing the relationship between the Church and the perspective of biological, technical and scientific research.
 
The place chosen for this round table discussion - and for the closing ceremony - was Arcetri, a small hill town south of Florence where Villa Il Gioiello is located, the site of Galileo Galilei's enforced confinement and his last dwelling place.
 
The choice has a clear symbolic value that adds emotional force to the "end of centuries of incomprehension" - which the convention had as its premise - regarding a man whose extraordinary scientific importance is no longer in any doubt.