At school, especially in biology lessons, physics and chemistry you are gradually getting used to it, what we know about the world, we live on. We owe this knowledge to scientists. Thanks to their stubborn and long-term work, discoveries were made. Scholars wrote about these discoveries and told others about them. In this way, knowledge about the world has become available to people of different generations. You ask : where people can find out about these discoveries today ? Mostly at school. They can also read about it in many scientific works.
We are Christians, we belong to the Church. So we pose one more question : how the Church treats scholars ? How church authorities relate to them ? Is there really a place for them in the Church? ? We are not going to talk about all the scholars here, but, for example, we will only stop at one.
You know the character of Nicolaus Copernicus. He was of Polish origin. He was born in Toruń in 1473 year. He studied in Krakow, Bologna, Padua and Ferrara. From 1497 he worked in his own observatory in Frombork in Warmia. He also worked in the diocesan curia, he was even an adviser to the bishop. It is also worth mentioning this, that he was entrusted with organizing the defense of the city of Olsztyn, when the Teutonic Knights started to threaten him, who burned down Polish villages, they killed people or took them captive.
But that was not the most important thing in Mikołaj's life. The most important thing was this, that he made a discovery, which is a scientific revolution. This discovery is named after him by the Copernican coup. What just changed ? There was a common belief at that time, even among scholars, that the earth is standing still, and the sun and other planets revolve around it. Copernicus proved, it is different. It is the sun that is at the center, it stands still, and the earth and other planets revolve around it. With this discovery he made the name of Poland famous all over the world.
Our great compatriot and scholar was a Christian believer and faithful son of the Church. We must not forget about it. In his life, he reconciled science and religion. It was clear to him, that scientific advances and discoveries do not at all contradict religion and belief in God. After all, science and religion come from the same God. So they cannot contradict each other.
The question arises, however, why the discovery of Copernicus was not immediately recognized, why it was only in the 18th century that everyone considered this discovery proven ? Read carefully and reflect, what Józef Zygmuntowicz in his book entitled. ,,What do I believe? He writes on the subject :
,,In the popular imagination, our scientist appears as a brilliant destroyer of this, with condition, and a bold preacher of a new truth. This is a false picture… The new planetary system was slowly born, growing first from a thorough penetration into the well-known traditional astronomy… Copernicus was a mathematician. He saw all the inaccuracies and inconsistencies in old astronomy and looked for a better theory… And here many hard trials and difficulties awaited Copernicus. The numbers derived from observing the stars fit better with the new system, but - despite everything - they did not suit him perfectly… Copernicus did not come to mind, which only occurred to Kepler, that planets can orbit freely drawn ellipses. This was one of the reasons, for which, despite the encouragement of Pope Clement VII, he delayed until the end of announcing the new system. His mathematical mind shuddered from exposing the world model to the critique of all learned Europe, which he could not fully justify in numbers ". One more mystery related to the figure of the scientist remains to be clarified. When we find out today, that several years after the death of Copernicus, his famous work ,,On the Revolutions of Heavenly Bodies ”was placed on the index by the church authorities, that is, in the list of forbidden books, we ask, why did this happen? Yet, as we already mentioned, Pope Clement VII encouraged Copernicus, so that he would not delay publishing his work. So what was the cause, that the work of Copernicus, who was a Christian believer and faithful son of the Church, was included in the index ?
Galileusz, Italian mathematician and scientist, He came to conclusion, it's about time, to disseminate the Copernican theory. He considered Copernicus to be the providential spokesman for this matter. Then a discussion broke out in Florence. Apparently, Galileo did not miss any of those who came to Florence, so as not to involve him in the discussion. He rebuked his opponents. And the latter again - like Francis Sizzi and Louis Colombo - for the lack of other evidence derived from the natural sciences, they looked for them in the Scriptures. They read there, that the sun is moving, and the earth is standing. Now the discussion has shifted to another field - to the area of exegesis. Namely, it was wondering, how to reconcile the Scriptures. with the Copernicus system.
And here Galileo made a mistake, because he got involved in such a discussion. It was obvious, that eleven popes beginning with Clement VII did not mind the teachings of Copernicus. Yes, Gregory XIII when laying calendar he used it often. Due to an error, which Galileo made in the discussion, the work of Copernicus was included in the index. It happened in 1616 r.
Today we know, that they also made a fundamental mistake, who judged Galileo for it, that he was preaching a science, which opposed the Scriptures. After all, the Scriptures. gives us the truth, which is about salvation. It means, that the Scriptures. he doesn't want to teach us astronomy, physics, chemistry or geography etc.… The Church, then, protects and infallibly explains the word of God, which only pertains to our salvation. About this task of the Church and how she fulfills it, you already know from previous catecheses, especially this one, which has the title : "The Church protects the word of God and explains it infallibly". In addition, it is worth adding, that the Second Vatican Council teaches us, that science about the world is autonomous, that is, independent of religion. Scholars in all areas of knowledge, as long as they are truly scientific, they will never turn against faith and God, because the content of science, as well as the content of faith, comes from the same God. So there is room for scholars in the Church. Scientific progress does not lead to the denial of religion and God.
Church and scholars
