The Vatican is planning to erect a statue for Galileo 400 years after they put him on trial for heresy but this is not the first attempt by the church to look into the Galileo affair, as early as 1979 attempts were made to rethink the trial of Galileo. Still better late than never?
The planned statue is to stand in the Vatican gardens near the apartment in which Galileo was incarcerated while awaiting trial in 1633 for advocating heliocentrism, the Copernican doctrine that the Earth revolves around the Sun.
This does feel a bit like an apology of too little, too late.
A statue to the heretic might be a good idea but I would prefer a statue that would remind the church of the power and responsibility is has for preventing the truth from spreading. And a statue to the need to remind everyone that the truth needs to be discussed and challenged if we are going to progress. While the Galileo affair was four centuries ago the church attitude towards birth control and abortion are ongoing in a world struggling to deal with overpopulation, poverty and aids. Do you think that they will erect a statue of this in about four hundred years?
(via Slashdot)