, and entirely left out of view in 1633.
What was condemned in 1616 by the Sacred Congregation held in the
presence of Pope Paul V, as "ABSURD, FALSE IN THEOLOGY, AND HERETICAL,
BECAUSE ABSOLUTELY CONTRARY TO HOLY SCRIPTURE," was the proposition that
"THE SUN IS THE CENTRE ABOUT WHICH THE EARTH REVOLVES"; and what was
condemned as "ABSURD, FALSE IN PHILOSOPHY, AND FROM A THEOLOGIC POINT
OF VIEW, AT LEAST, OPPOSED TO THE TRUE FAITH," was the proposition that
"THE EARTH IS NOT THE CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSE AND IMMOVABLE, BUT HAS A
DIURNAL MOTION."

And again, what Galileo was made, by express order of Pope Urban, and
by the action of the Inquisition under threat of torture, to abjure in
1633, was "THE ERROR AND HERESY OF THE MOVEMENT OF THE EARTH."

What the Index condemned under sanction of the bull issued by Alexander
VII in 1664 was, "ALL BOOKS TEACHING THE MOVEMENT OF THE EARTH AND THE
STABILITY OF THE SUN."

What the Index, prefaced by papal bulls, infallibly binding its contents
upon the consciences of the faithful, for nearly two hundred years
steadily condemned was, "ALL BOOKS WHICH AFFIRM THE MOTION OF THE
EARTH."

Not one of these condemnations was directed against Galileo "for
reconciling his ideas with Scripture."(77)

(77) For the original trial documents, copied carefully from the Vatican
manuscripts, see the Roman Catholic authority, L'Epinois, especially
p. 35, where the principal document is given in its original Latin;
see also Gebler, Die Acten des galilei'schen Processes, for still more
complete copies of the same documents. For minute information regarding
these documents and their publication, see Favaro, Miscellanea Galileana
Inedita, forming vol. xxii, part iii, of the Memoirs of the Venetian
Institute for 1887, and especially pp. 891 and following.

Having been dislodged from this point, the Church apologists sought
cover under the statement that Galileo was condemned not for heresy, but
for contumacy and want of respect toward the Pope.

There was a slight chance, also, for this quibble: no doubt Urban VIII,
one of the haughtiest of pontiffs, was induced by Galileo's enemies
to think that he had been treated with some lack of proper etiquette:
first, by Galileo's adhesion to his own doctrines after his condemnation
in 1616; and, next, by his supposed reference in the Dialogue of 1632 to
the arguments which the Pope had used against him.

But it would seem to be a very poor service