34 GALILEO AND HIS JUDGES. 



doctrinal one ; the action taken upon the strength 

 of that opinion by the Pope in desiring Cardinal 

 Bellarmine to admonish Galileo, as well as by the 

 Congregation of the Index in prohibiting certain 

 books, was simply disciplinary.* 



It remains for us to inquire what was the value of 

 the decree of the Index on certain works, written 

 in favour of the new astronomical doctrines, as appre- 

 ciated by contemporary feeling and opinion. We 

 naturally find that there were two views on the 

 subject : one of those who wished to magnify the effect 

 of the decision, and one of those who desired to 

 minimise it. 



Galileo himself said that his opinion had not been 

 accepted by the Church, which, however, had only 

 declared that it was not in conformity with Holy 

 Scripture ; from which it followed that only books 

 attempting ex professo to prove that the opinion is 

 not contrary to Scripture were prohibited. Whether 

 Galileo was right or wrong in his estimate of the 

 scope of the decree, it seems evident that he considered 

 the whole matter as a question merely of discipline. 



It is said that Father Melchior Inchofer, S. J. (after- 

 wards one of the Consul tors of the Holy Office), 



* It happens, curiously enough, that the doctrine of the perfect 

 immobility of the Sun, which so shocked the Qualifiers of the 

 Inquisition, is simply discarded by modern astronomers. No one 

 now holds that the Sun is the centre of the whole universe, or that 

 he is immovable. It is generally supposed that he travels in space, 

 though not round any known centre, and the Earth and Planets 

 with him. 



