Editing Giordano Bruno (section)

===Late Vatican position===
The Vatican has published few official statements about Bruno's trial and execution. In 1942, Cardinal [[Giovanni Mercati]], who discovered a number of lost documents relating to Bruno's trial, stated that the Church was perfectly justified in condemning him.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}} On the 400th anniversary of Bruno's death, in 2000, Cardinal [[Angelo Sodano]] declared Bruno's death to be a "sad episode" but, despite his regret, he defended Bruno's prosecutors, maintaining that the Inquisitors "had the desire to serve freedom and promote the common good and did everything possible to save his life".<ref>{{cite news|last=Seife |first=Charles |title=Vatican Regrets Burning Cosmologist |url=http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2000/03/01-04.html |access-date=24 June 2012 |newspaper=Science Now |date=1 March 2000 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130608054739/http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2000/03/01-04.html |archive-date=8 June 2013  }}</ref> In the same year, Pope [[John Paul II]] made a general apology for "the use of violence that some have committed in the service of truth".<ref>{{citation |author= Robinson, B A|date=7 March 2000|title=Apologies by Pope John Paul II|publisher=Ontario Consultants. Retrieved 27 December 2013}}</ref>