"
The next, which I select from the mass of similar works, is the
_Anticopernicus Catholicus_ of Polacco. It was intended to deal a
finishing stroke at Galileo's heresy. In this it is declared:
"The Scripture always represents the earth as at rest, and the sun
and moon as in motion; or, if these latter bodies are ever
represented as at rest, Scripture represents this as the result of
a great miracle....
"These writings must be prohibited, because they teach certain
principles about the position and motion of the terrestrial globe
repugnant to Holy Scripture and to the Catholic interpretation of
it, not as hypotheses but as established facts...."
Speaking of Galileo's book, Polacco says that it "smacked of
Copernicanism," and that, "when this was shown to the Inquisition,
Galileo was thrown into prison and was compelled to utterly abjure
the baseness of this erroneous dogma."
As to the authority of the cardinals in their decree, Polacco
asserts that, since they are the "Pope's Council" and his "brothers,"
their work is one, except that the Pope is favoured with special
divine enlightenment.
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