Father Vincenzo Maculani De Firenzoula was examining the strange man in front of him. This strange man Galileo Galilei was accused of heresy by the Catholic Church because of supporting the theory of that heretic Copernicus. He thought, "Even after so much evidence in the holy scriptures who dares to think that the earth revolves around the sun?" He was also afraid of the impact these heretics would have on the youth. Indeed books written by Copernicus even though banned by the Holy See himself were freely available in Italy, a thing which very much bothered the Church. Father Vincenzo maintained a calm demeanour as he spoke to Galileo, "You stand here twice accused of heresy and after receiving a warning from the Church not to again preach the Copernican theory, what do you say to that?" Galileo also replied calmly. He said, "Father in my latest book, I do not hold the Copernican belief that the earth revolves around the sun. I have simply put it up as a point of discussion as I believe that, the people have the right to know all the theories of the universe and then accept the theory of their choosing." To this response, the father became extremely angry, he said, "How can someone contradict what has been the dictum of the scriptures. Scriptures are the ultimate form of knowledge, without them, there is no legitimate knowledge."
To this Galileo responded, " I do not disagree with your words Holy father. All I say is that we should at least discuss those forms of knowledge which are contradicted by the scriptures. Scriptures are absolute I agree but all knowledge should be open to discussion." This angered the priest, even more, he said, "I can see why you are accused of heresy. How dare you even attempt to contradict the scriptures? They have been created based on our Lord Jesus Christ by his most trusted disciples. How dare you even allow discourse which contradicts them you heretic?"
Galileo now decided to retort, he could no longer hold back his beliefs. He said, "Holy Father, I have not defended Copernicus in my book, I have merely attempted to discuss his beliefs. But now I must tell you my beliefs. It is that nature never cared about your scriptures. It does not matter to her if your scriptures say that the sun should revolve around the earth. If nature decides that what Copernicus said holds true, then IT HOLDS TRUE!!! And even our Lord is subservient to nature, there can be no question of God dictating nature as nature dictates itself. Through my telescope, I have observed her. I have seen the moons and comets and I can definitely say that the Earth definitely revolves around the Sun and there can be no question for anything else. You may imprison me for my beliefs but you cannot deny the fact that you are deliberately spreading falsehood in the name of scriptures. You can imprison me for my beliefs, you can even kill me but you cannot deny that what I say is the truth."
The priest now redfaced shouted to the guards, "TAKE THIS HERETIC OUT OF MY SIGHT!!! IMPRISON HIM AND SECULDE HIM!!!!" As the guards were taking away Galileo he began screaming, "HOLY FATHER YOU KNOW THAT WHAT I HAVE SAID IS THE TRUTH!!! IT IS TRUE THAT WHAT COPERNICUS SAID WAS RIGHT, EARTH REVOLVES AROUND THE SUN AND IT WILL ALWAYS DO SO. THAT IS THE TRUTH, THAT IS HOW NATURE BEHAVES AND THAT IS HOW IT WILL ALWAYS BEHAVE!!!" The father when Galileo was taken away began pronouncing the sentence, he ordered Galileo to be kept in prison at first and later under house arrest. He also ordered the banning and destruction of all his books as well as a wide array of Copernican literature. After the judgement, the priest went back home very happy as he had successfully defended the holy scriptures against the attacks of heretics like Copernicus and Galileo but what he did not know was that time would prove him otherwise and that the mighty Catholic Church would ultimately bow down to the truth that these two heretics propagated.
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