Cardinal Bellarmine's Argument Analysis

Who has the power to determine what is right from wrong? Do the authorities have that power? If so, is there a limit to that power? In the early 17th century, there were many conflicts involving the authority figures and who had the power to say what is true and what is false. After the invention of the telescope, questions regarding natural events such as whether the earth or the sun was at the center of the universe were talked about more frequently. However, who got to determine whether the telescopic evidence actually reflected what the world looks like? In addition to this, questions about how and who gets to interpret the Bible arose. During the 17th century, many people believed that the Church which consisted of the Pope, cardinals,
Additionally, only the Catholic Church could give the true meaning of the Bible. Bellarmine countered Foscarini and Galileo’s arguments by saying that it was wise of them to speak in terms of assumptions and not absolute since saying the earth moves and the sun stands still “contains nothing dangerous”. However, asserting that the sun is really located in the center of the world and only revolves on its axis is a dangerous thing to do as it is damaging to the Holy Faith by making the Scriptures false (Blackwell, 265). He referred to the Joshua passage that both Galileo and Foscarini talked about in their argument and combated it by pointing out that the Council of Trent prohibited the interpretation of Scripture contrary to what the Holy Fathers agreed upon; which was that the sun was in the heavens and rotated around the stationary earth while the earth was in the center of the universe. Another point that Bellarmine stated is that whenever a true demonstration is produced that the Copernican model is true, it would be necessary to proceed with caution in interpreting the Scriptures which seem to be contrary for one should not abandon the Sacred Scriptures as interpreted by the Holy Fathers. Pope Urban VIII also warned Galileo to stop teaching/defending his Copernican views. The Pope ordered all the books that taught Copernican views to be suspended or prohibited until they were corrected (Westman, 11/3/16). However, Galileo published a book which angered the Pope since he prohibited works which had his name in the front. Pope Urban VIII felt what Galileo was doing was harmful to religion so he had to get involved which would result in Galileo “not coming out of it