NEW CHAPTERS IN THE WARFARE OF SCIENCE. 151 



Catholics themselves. In 1870 a Roman Catholic clergyman in 

 England, the Rev. Mr. Roberts, evidently thinking that the time 

 had come to tell the truth, published a book entitled The Pontifi- 

 cal Decrees against the Earth's Movement. In this were exhib- 

 ited the incontrovertible evidences that the papacy had committed 

 itself and its infallibility fully against the movement of the earth. 

 The Rev. Mr. Roberts showed from the original record that Pope 

 Paul V, in 1G1G, had presided over the tribunal condemning the 

 doctrine of the earth's movement, and ordering Galileo to give up 

 the opinion. He showed that Pope Urban VIII, in 1633, pressed 

 on, directed, and promulgated the final condemnation, making 

 himself in all these ways responsible for it. And, finally, he 

 showed that Pope Alexander VII, in 1664, by his bull, Specula- 

 tores domus Israel, attached to the Index, condemning " all books 

 which affirm the motion of the earth," had absolutely pledged the 

 papal infallibility against the earth's movement. He also con- 

 fessed that under the rules laid down by the highest authorities 

 in the Church, and especially by Sixtus V and Pius IX, there was 

 no escape from this conclusion. 



Various theologians attempted to evade the force of the argu- 

 ment. Some, like Dr. Ward and Bouix, took refuge in verbal 

 niceties ; some, like Dr. Jeremiah Murphy, comforted themselves 

 with declamation. The only result was, that in 1885 came an- 

 other edition of the Rev. Mr. Roberts's work, even more cogent 

 than the first ; and, besides this, an essay by that eminent Catholic, 

 St. George Mivart, acknowledging the Rev. Mr. Roberts's position 

 to be impregnable, and declaring virtually that the Almighty 

 allowed Pope and Church to fall into complete error regarding 

 the Copernican theory, in order to teach them that science lies 

 outside their province, and that the true priesthood of scientific 

 truth rests with scientific investigators alone.* 



In spite, then, of all casuistry and special pleading, this sturdy 

 honesty ended the controversy among Catholics themselves, so 

 far as fair-minded men are concerned. 



ure," the answer may be found in the Roman Index of 1704, in which are noted for con- 

 demnation "Libri omnes docentes mobilitatem terra? et immobilitatem solis." For the 

 way in which, when it was found convenient in argument, Church apologists insisted that 

 it was " the Supreme Chief of the Church by a pontifical decree and not certain cardinals " 

 who condemned Galileo and his doctrine, see Father Lecazre's letter to Gassendi, in Flam- 

 marion, Pluralit6 des Mondes, p. 427, and Urban VIII's own declarations as given by 

 Martin. For the way in which, when necessary, Church apologists asserted the very con- 

 trary of this, declaring that " it was issued in a doctrinal decree of the Congregation of the 

 Index, and not as the Holy Father's teaching," see Dublin Review, September, 1865. 



* For this crushing answer, and by two eminent Roman Catholics, to the sophistries 

 cited an answer which does infinitely more credit to the older Church than all the per- 

 verted ingenuity used in concealing the truth or breaking the force of it see Roberts and 

 St. George Mivart, as already cited. 



