The pope stays home
Well good. Excellent. It’s about time. Some teachers and students at a university have pointed out that Papal epistemology does not belong at a university. That Papal ways of knowing are not academic ways of knowing; that, in short, there is indeed a tension between reason and ‘faith.’ Well done.
Pope Benedict XVI last night called off a visit to Rome’s main university in the face of hostility from some of its academics and students, who accused him of despising science and defending the Inquisition’s condemnation of Galileo…[A] letter [was] signed by more than 60 of La Sapienza’s teachers, asking that the invitation to the Pope be rescinded. The signatories of the letter said Benedict’s presence would be “incongruous”. They cited a speech he made at La Sapienza in 1990, while he was still a cardinal, in which he quoted the judgment of an Austrian philosopher of science* who wrote that the church’s trial of Galileo was “reasonable and fair”…La Stampa reported that a number of foreign scientists had since added their names to the initiative.
That’s it! Get in there and mix it up. The pope is always telling everyone what’s what; good for the foreign scientists telling him back.
Rightwing opposition MPs were outraged. One suggested La Sapienza, which means “wisdom” or “learning” ought now to be renamed La Ignoranza.
Right. The pope stands for wisdom and learning and a secular university stands for ignorance. And up is down and wet is dry and now is then.
*Paul Feyerabend, it was.
Am currently reading Ratzi’s latest encyclical, spe salvi. It’s a bit of a drag, I must say. The good bishop won’t go down in history as one of the great epistolists.
I am starting to think that the prospect of the tedium of one of the pope’s lecture contributed, even more than his positions, to the move by La Sapienza’s students and teaching staff…
I can understand that…
Italy’s deputy prime minister, Francesco Rutelli, said: “The attempt to silence [Benedict] in a place that is a forum for study, teaching and dialogue … seems inconceivable.” He noted that a pope had founded La Sapienza in 1303.”
I subsequently looked it up on the ‘net
“Boniface VIII founded the University of Rome La Sapienza in 1303.”
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Boniface_VIII
Also:
La Sapienza is the eleventh university in the world, and the first in Italy, to confer on Karol Wojtyla a Doctorate honoris causa.
http://www.30giorni.it/us/articolo.asp?id=1053
“Among the signatories was the physicist Prof Luciano Maiani, who was recently appointed to head Italy’s main scientific research body, the Consiglio nazionale delle ricerche.”
However, he got two cold feet in the heel of the hunt.
“Maiani said he had later dropped his opposition to the visit after learning that the Pope would not be making the keynote address.”
Is this professor really in the business of trying to save his own Italian bacon?
When the going got tough the physicist scarpered!
MTOL –
Maybe the physicist just found himself to be in a quantum state?
;-)
Aye, Andy, the physicist jumped from one energy level to another instantaneously. The popes’ impending arrival at the Sapienza obviously jolted him out his staunchly held earlier beliefs!
Arriverdici!
I think it’s a shame that Ratzinger is not gointg to make a speach. He has no sense of irony. It could have been a good example of black humour.
Recall that a couple of weeks ago, he addressed footballers to show a good example for young people. Not moleting them seems a good enough example, unlike various priest, nuns, monks, etc.
Three posts up – should have read, Arrivedici <>[two r’s] Roma.
I’m an Italian researcher, so I’m having a first row seat for the show these days. The most depressing thing is that, contrary to what stated in the original post, nearly all the political parties (left and right) joined the chorus in deprecating the teachers’ protest. Of course, most newspaper did not even report in detail what the protest was about. We have a kind of left-wing government now, but (again) the newly approved school reform seems to exclude evolutionary biology from the lower grades’ curriculum. And we voted against stem cell research two years ago! The biggest fear of Italian politicians seems to be that of disappointing the Vatican, and to hell with scientists…
And finally, my biggest contribution to this discussion… the correct spelling is “arrivederci!” (while it may change in some dialects)
Thanks, Marco – it’s good to have an inside view. That is depressing, and sounds very like the US, where both parties (two is all we’re allowed here, despite constant lip service paid to ‘multi-party democracies’) fall all over themselves in the rush to flatter religion. The biggest fear here seems to be irritating voters of ‘faith,’ and to hell with scientists…
Si, Si, Si, ah, capisco, mile grazie signor Marco! ‘Molto bene, for spotting that it should have had three r’s!
Grazie, grazie di tutta la sua gentilezza.
“nearly all the political parties (left and right) joined the chorus in deprecating the teachers’ protest. Of course, most newspaper did not even report in detail what the protest was about.”
It is just typical. Exactly the same scenario would have occurred in Ireland. The Vatican has such enormous influence in both countries.
Buona notte!
OB,
on the (wildly off-) topic of US party politics, I take it you have a copy of Ambrose Bierce’s “Enlarged Devil’s Dictionary” kicking around the place? (and if not, WHY??) :-)
“Primary, n. A political pot, from which the fire of corruption has long since evaporated the good soup, leaving nothing but scum.”
(p.253 in the 1987 Penguin Classics edition, edited by E.J. Hopkins)
Greatest ever American satirist by a long, long street…
:-)
“Grazie, grazie di tutta la sua gentilezza”…
do I spot Monty Python here? ;-) Of course, Torino รจ molto meglio di Milano!
Perhaps things are not as they seem. See here.
No, things are pretty much as they seem. Ratzinger was using Feyerabend in a way familiar to many observers.
No, things are pretty much as they seem. Ratzinger was using Feyerabend in a way familiar to many observers.
Can you expand on that? Why is John Wilkins wrong?
Oh the layers of irony when theological types – especially Ratzinger, of all people! – find postmodernism useful for their immediate purposes. See Meera Nanda on how this plays out in India.
That was a cross-post, not an answer. Sorry, I don’t have time to expand on anything right now. Read the comments on Wilkins’s post.