Did the Roman Inquisition target science and hamper scientific progress during the 16th century? Many scholars have made that argument, but a new series released by the Vatican raises questions about that assessment.
Catholic News Service reports that the series' first volume is titled “Catholic Church and Modern Science: Documents from the Archives of the Roman Congregations of the Holy Office and the Index. (The “Index” refers to the now-defunct Index of Forbidden Books.) It features documents from the formerly secret archives of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith regarding science and natural philosophy from 1542-1600.
Cardinal Georges Cottier, theologian of the papal household under Pope John Paul II and author of the volume’s preface, maintains that the Inquisition was more concerned about preventing the spread of Protestant ideas than a condemnation of science in the name of faith.
The co-authors — Ugo Baldini, a Galileo expert and history professor at Padua University, and Leen Spruit, an expert on the censorship of science in early modern history — say they aren’t sure what impact the Inquisition had on the scientific community of the time, but that historians will now be able to make a more honest assessment based on the series’ full reproduction of the archives.
The release of the series is good news. Even today, in many quarters, there is a false belief the church is anti-science. Such assessments are often based on broad generalizations made about a few notorious cases centuries ago, particularly the church’s condemnation of Galileo (whose trial will be covered in the next volume to be released in 2014).
The Vatican’s latest effort will provide some much-needed insight into this time in the church’s history.
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