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Galileo vs. the Pope
A Contest of Manhood and Honor
In 1611, Maffeo Cardinal Barberini had participated in honoring Galileo in Rome.
Barberini became Pope Urban VIII in 1623 (d. 1644). Galileo dedicated The Assayer (1623) to him and the Pope was pleased to be so honored.
When the Pope heard that Galileo was writing a new book on the solar system (Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems, 1630) , he asked Galileo to include his own theory about science in the book.
Galileo put the pope’s theory in the mouth of Simplicio, the dunderhead who never gets anything right in the Dialogue.
The pope was not amused. Although Galileo had scrupulously obeyed the Church’s rules for publication, the Pope had him brought up on trumped-up charges.