Pope Benedict XVI cancelled a speech at Rome's La Sapienza university in the face of protests led by scientists opposed to a high-profile visit by the head of the Catholic Church. Many scientists fault the intellectual, conservative and tradition-minded pope for a series of positions he has taken that they say subordinate science and reason to faith.
Students opposed to the visit kicked off "an anti-clergy week" by showing a film on Galileo, the 17th-century physicist who ran afoul of Church doctrine by insisting that the Earth orbits the Sun. Protesters of the planned visit called attention to a 1990 speech in which the pope, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger condoned the Inquisition's verdict against Galileo in 1633, saying the ruling was "rational and just".
One of the protesting professors, Carlo Cosmelli, told reporters: "Since the conviction of Galileo ... physicists are especially sensitive over interference by the Catholic Church in the scientific domain." The pope -- who also faces criticism for perceived interference in Italian political and social affairs -- "has made more and more remarks on the theme of the necessary subordination of science to faith," Cosmelli said. In September 2006, Pope Benedict held a church conference in which the "intelligent design" movement was given precedence over the theory of evolution.
The scientists' revolt, initially discreet, snowballed after radical students took up the cause. Physicist Marcello Cini, a professor emeritus of La Sapienza, said of Benedict: "By cancelling, he is playing the victim, which is very intelligent. It will be a pretext for accusing us of refusing dialogue."
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