Marcello Cini, a prominent physicist at the university who led the protest, was quoted by Agence France-Presse as saying he was “satisfied” at the cancellation. “I thought, and I continue to think, that his visit was ambiguous and an attack on the independence of culture and the university,” he said.Gotta love that spirit of free inquiry. The Pope was more welcome in Turkey, at a mosque, than he is in an Italian University!
Update: The Muslim comparison was more apt than I knew. As Zadok points out, when you read Cardinal Ratzinger's allegedly offensive-to-Science address, he is citing another thinker to raise a problem --he doesn't even indicate he agrees.
The quotation which was hostile to Galileo came from an 'agnostic-skeptic' thinker. The then-Cardinal quoted it, without indicating whether he agreed with it or not. He quoted it to show that there was a debate within modernity. He also warns that those of us who are believers should not exploit this debate for apologetics purposes without thinking it all through - one gets the impression that Ratzinger is very cautious about adopting a position and that there may be significant nuances in any final theological judgement concerning the legacy of Galileo.Just like the jihadists after Regensberg, these faculty members --notably led by a physicist in the name of "Science"-- did not bother to read or listen before launching a protest. Freak out first, think about what's being said later, if at all. How rational, scientific and scholarly.
WaTi ran this photo with the story this morning. Note the Pope in Heil Hitler pose? Nice! And the protesters are calling themselves the "Physics Collective."
Zadok's been on the case from the start. And now reports a counter-protest.
The Italian press is reporting that that Cardinal Ruini, the Pope's vicar for the Diocese of Rome, is encouraging the faithful to give a large show of support for the Pope by attending the Papal Angelus at noon on Sunday. Needless to say, there's no way I'm missing that.And:
Catholic students from the Sapienza university were also prominent at today's Papal audience. They were showing that if the Pope couldn't come to them, then they were going to go to the Pope.So. Add "scientists" to the long list of persons with whom we may not disagree without giving offense. Contrast that with the Supreme Pontiff who says of his book about Jesus
Everyone is free, then, to contradict me. I would only ask my readers for that initial goodwill without which there can be no understanding.Lacking initial goodwill, our universities can offer no understanding. Another reason Reason can't exist without Charity.
