Editing Robert Bellarmine (section)

===The Galileo case===
{{Main|Galileo affair}}
In 1616, on the orders of Paul V, Bellarmine summoned [[Galileo Galilei|Galileo]], notified him of a forthcoming [[decree]] of the [[Congregation of the Index]] condemning the [[Nicolaus Copernicus|Copernican]] doctrine of the mobility of the Earth and the immobility of the Sun, and ordered him to abandon it.<ref>Blackwell [[#Reference-Blackwell-1991|(1991, p. 126)]].<div id="disputedinjunction" zoompage-fontsize="12"> The Vatican archives contain an unsigned copy of a more strongly worded formal injunction purporting to have been served on Galileo shortly after Bellarmine's admonition, ordering him "not to hold, teach, or defend" the condemned doctrine "in any way whatever, either orally or in writing", and threatening him with imprisonment if he refused to obey.</div> However, whether this injunction was ever properly served on Galileo is a subject of much scholarly disagreement.[[#Reference-Blackwell-1991|(Blackwell, 1991, p. 127&ndash;128)]]</ref> Galileo agreed to do so.<ref>[[#Reference-Fantoli-2005|Fantoli (2005, p.119)]]. Some scholars have suggested that Galileo's agreement was only obtained after some initial resistance. Otherwise, the formal injunction purporting to have been served on him during his meeting with Bellarmine [[#disputedinjunction|(see earlier footnote)]] would have been contrary to the Pope's instructions [[#Reference-Fantoli-2005|(Fantoli. 2005, pp.121, 124)]].</ref>

When Galileo later complained of rumours to the effect that he had been forced to abjure and do penance, Bellarmine wrote out a certificate denying the rumours, stating that Galileo had merely been notified of the decree and informed that, as a consequence of it, the Copernican doctrine could not be "defended or held". Unlike the previously mentioned formal injunction [[#disputedinjunction|(see earlier footnote)]], this certificate would have allowed Galileo to continue using and teaching the mathematical content of Copernicus's theory as a purely theoretical device for predicting the apparent motions of the planets.<ref>Blackwell [[#Reference-Blackwell-1991|(1991, p.127)]]. [[Maurice Finocchiaro]]'s English translations of the purported [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930013053/http://astro.wcupa.edu/mgagne/ess362/resources/finocchiaro.html#specinj formal injunction], the [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930013053/http://astro.wcupa.edu/mgagne/ess362/resources/finocchiaro.html#indexdecree decree] of the Congregation of the Index and Cardinal Bellarmine's [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930013053/http://astro.wcupa.edu/mgagne/ess362/resources/finocchiaro.html#certificate certificate] are available on-line.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=v1gFDgAAQBAJ&q=bellarmine+galileo&pg=PT124|title = Galileo, Bellarmine, and the Bible|isbn = 9780268158934|last1 = Blackwell|first1 = Richard J.|date = 31 January 1991| publisher=University of Notre Dame Press |access-date = 19 November 2020|archive-date = 20 February 2023|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230220051904/https://books.google.com/books?id=v1gFDgAAQBAJ&q=bellarmine+galileo&pg=PT124|url-status = live}}</ref>

According to some of his letters, Cardinal Bellarmine believed that a demonstration for heliocentrism could not be found because it would contradict the unanimous consent of the [[Fathers of the Church|Fathers]]' [[scriptural exegesis]], to which the [[Council of Trent]], in 1546,<ref>{{cite web|title=Fourth Session of the Council of Trent|date=8 April 1546|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds2.v.i.i.ii.html#v.i.i.ii-p0.55|access-date=16 December 2013|archive-date=21 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021173738/http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds2.v.i.i.ii.html#v.i.i.ii-p0.55|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Dogmatic definition|defined]] all Catholics must adhere. In other passages, Bellarmine argued that he did not support the heliocentric model for the lack of evidence of the time ("I will not believe that there is such a demonstration, until it is shown to me").<ref name="letter to Foscarini">Bellarmine's letter of 12 April 1615 to Foscarini, translated in {{Cite book|editor-last=Finocchiaro|editor-first=Maurice A. |title=The Galileo Affair: a Documentary History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k7D1CXFBl2gC&pg=PA67 |location=Berkeley|publisher=U. California P.|date=1989|pages=67–8|isbn=0520066626}}</ref>

Bellarmine wrote to [[heliocentrism|heliocentrist]] [[Paolo Antonio Foscarini]] in 1615:<ref name="letter to Foscarini"/>

{{Blockquote|The Council [of Trent] prohibits interpreting Scripture against the common consensus of the Holy Fathers; and if Your Paternity wants to read not only the Holy Fathers, but also the modern commentaries on [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]], the [[Psalm]]s, [[Ecclesiastes]], and Joshua, you will find all agreeing in the literal interpretation that the sun is in heaven and turns around the earth with great speed, and that the earth is very far from heaven and sits motionless at the center of the world.}}and{{Blockquote|I say that if there were a true demonstration that the sun is at the center of the world and the earth in the third heaven, and that the sun does not circle the earth but the earth circles the sun, then one would have to proceed with great care in explaining the Scriptures that appear contrary, and say rather that we do not understand them, than that what is demonstrated is false. But I will not believe that there is such a demonstration, until it is shown me. Nor is it the same to demonstrate that by supposing the sun to be at the center and the earth in heaven one can [[Saving the phenomena|save the appearances]], and to demonstrate that in truth the sun is at the center and the earth in heaven; for I believe the first demonstration may be available, but I have very great doubts about the second, and in case of doubt one must not abandon the Holy Scripture as interpreted by the Holy Fathers.}}

In 1633, nearly twelve years after Bellarmine's death, Galileo was again called before the Inquisition in this matter. Galileo produced Bellarmine's certificate for his defense at the trial.<ref>Galileo's third deposition (10 May 1633), translated in {{Cite book|editor-last=Finocchiaro|editor-first=Maurice A. |title=The Trial of Galileo: Essential Documents |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U69aBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA130 |location=Indianapolis|publisher=Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.|date=2014|pages=130|isbn=9781624661358}}</ref>

According to [[Pierre Duhem]] and [[Karl Popper]] "in one respect, at least, Bellarmine had shown himself a better scientist than Galileo by disallowing the possibility of a "strict proof" of the earth's motion, on the grounds that an astronomical theory merely "saves the appearances" without necessarily revealing what "really happens."<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2008 |title=Robert Bellarmine |encyclopedia=[[Dictionary of Scientific Biography]] |publisher=Scribner & American Council of Learned Societies |last=McMullin |first=Ernan |editor-last=Gillispie |editor-first=Charles |ref=Reference-McMullin-2008}}</ref> Philosopher of science [[Thomas Kuhn]], in his book, ''The Copernican Revolution'', after commenting on [[Cesare Cremonini (philosopher)|Cesare Cremonini]], who refused to look through Galileo's [[telescope]], wrote:

{{blockquote|Most of Galileo’s opponents behaved more rationally. Like Bellarmine, they agreed that the phenomena were in the sky but denied that they proved Galileo’s contentions. In this, of course, they were quite right. Though the telescope argued much, it proved nothing.<ref>{{cite book|first=Thomas|last=Kuhn|title=The Copernican Revolution|location=New York|publisher=Random House / Vintage Books|year=1957|page=226}}</ref>}}