CathInfo.com

In 748, in reply to a letter from Boniface, Pope Zachary declared the belief "that beneath the earth there was another world and other men, another sun and moon" to be heretical.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipodes


Quote was taken from wikipedia. I haven't actually seen the letter in question, and I assume it's in Latin. A.I tells me the letter can be found in "Monumenta Germaniae Historica".

A.I also gives me this Latin text.

"De perversa autem et iniqua doctrina ejus, qui contra Deum et animam suam locutus est, si clarificatum fuerit ita eum confiteri, quod alius mundus, et alii homines sub terra sint, seu sol et luna, hunc, habito consilio, ab ecclesia pelle, sacerdotii honore privatum."

Google translate in english is

"But concerning the perverse and unjust doctrine of him who has spoken against God and his own soul, if it is revealed that he thus confesses that there is another world and other men under the earth, or the sun and moon, he shall be excommunicated from the church, deprived of the honor of the priesthood."

If anyone knows how to read latin, could you perhaps see the original docuмent and text and confirm if this quote is true? And does it meet the criteria of infallibility? If so then wouldn't that mean that it is infallible that the Earth is flat? As this text condemns "antipodes". (unless it means men 'under' the earth as in underground?, but i am not sure of this interpretation as Vatican 1 says to believe what the Church teaches 'as written'.)

So what it speaks to is something that Dr. Sungenis failed to address in quoting Hildegard of Bingen ("sainted" by Ratzinger, so I'll withhold the title for now, not out of disrespect for her, but for the Conciliars) ....

Dr. Sungenis quoted everything that had the word sphere in it, but Hildegard, while indeed describing the earth as egg-shaped (rather than spherical) ... and this is the part that Dr. Sungenis somehow filters out ... stated that there's nothing on the bottom half of the sphere except for Sheol and the Deep.  So, yes, the earth / world is spherical for her, but it is NOT the NASA ball model where there are people upside down on the bottom of a ball.  You see ... the notion of gravity had not been understood yet back in the day, so it's absurd to pretend that the Church Fathers believed in NASA ball earth, for ... how exactly would people stick upside down on a ball if there isn't the concept of gravity?

In fact, St. Augustine detailed a debate, and St. Ambrose opined on the matter also ... about how it was possible for the earth to be at the center of the universe (suspened as they considered it to be) in water, when, given its solidity, it should sink to the bottom of said water universe?  St. Ambrose held that it was either do to some rotation of the waters that kept it suspended or else that it was suspended miraculously.  St. Augustine leaned that way, but then stated it was acceptable to say that the earth was hemi-spherical, having settle at the bottom, since bottom center is still center.  Note that both took as an unassailable premise that the earth was at the very center of the entire universe.

But if the Church Fathers at time speak of a sphere, it's not the NASA ball with people stuck on the bottom, but more this (and this is also what Hilldegard described) ...



While I respect cassini, and continue to pray for him, he at one time quoted Hildegard against flat earth but somehow didn't notice the fact that in the very passage he had cited, she said that on the bottom half of the sphere there was only Sheol and the Deep.  So NOT proof of NASA ball earth.  I responded to cassini's post by bolding that section.

I was just checking the inbox but this popped up and I think I can clear this up.

"Cicero also hands on a doctrine which may have helped, for centuries, to discourage geographical exploration. The Earth is (of course) spherical. It is divided into five zones, of which two, the Arctic and the Antarctic, are uninhabitable through cold. Between the two habitable and temperate zones spreads the torrid zone, uninhabitable through heat. That is why the Antipodes, the ‘contrariwise-footed’ people who ‘plant their footsteps in the direction opposite to you’ (adversa vobis urgent vestigia), and live in the southern temperate zone, are unreachable to us. We can never meet them; a belt of deadly heat is between us and them (xx)."
C.S Lewis

So what the pope was really condemning was the idea that there were men who the Gospel couldn't possibly ever reach, and also that descended from someone else other than Adam.

Looking some more into it it seems like what was attributed to Virgil was even more out there, he was talking about something more akin to Agartha or a multiverse, like in superhero movies.