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rendered himself vehemently suspected by the Holy Office of heresy: that is to say, that he believes and holds the false doctrine, and contrary to the Holy and Divine Scriptures, namely, that the sun is the centre of the world, and that it does not move from east to west, and that the earth does move, and is not the centre of the world." They conclude by enjoining abjuration, and by decreeing that the Dialogue be prohibited by a public edict, and Galileo be imprisoned in the Holy Office at the pleasure of the Inquisitors, and for penance to recite the seven penitential psalms. Seven cardinals subscribe. Of the tremendously disgraceful Abjuration we say nothing. The date of the vile transaction was June 20, 1633.
Now, nothing from this document can be plainer than, that the pope, at the head of the Holy Office, condemned the Copernican doctrine of the solar system per se; that they condemned it as formally heretical, or, at least, erroneous in faith — at the least, such — because contrary to Scripture; and that the publisher of the doctrine was therefore vehemently suspected of heresy, and, of course, liable to the legal penalties, from which the guilty could
