How sad that some Catholics have less Faith in the Bible than fundamentalist protestants.
There are lots of fundie prots who earnestly believe in a young earth, and seek out alternate, Bible-friendly explanations to all the ACTUAL EVIDENCE science has turned up.
And they've done very well, too!
And that goes for a defense of geocentrism too. First a quote from 1873, 38 years after Pope Pius VII allowed heliocentric books to be read as correct.
‘Which [universe] is right? It would be very simple to me which is right, if it were only a question for human import. But the wise and truthful God has expressed Himself on this matter in the Bible. The entire Holy Scriptures settles the question that the Earth is the principal body of the universe, and it stands fixed, and that the Sun and the Moon only serve to light it. -- Lutheran Teachers’ Seminary, St Louis, Astronomische Uterredung, 1873.
The above quote, from a Lutheran seminary of all places, shows more faith in the true interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures concerning its revelation of a geocentric world in 1873 than did Catholic churchmen of the Holy Office of that time. To our knowledge there is no record of any proper Catholic Church defence of a geocentric reading of the Bible after 1835.
Now witness the debate in 1820 between the geocentrist Fr Anfossi anf Fr Olivieri the heliocentrist who wanted to get heliocentrism into the womb of the Church.
Anfossi: ‘Will Canon Settele not show toward the [geocentric] assertions of Scripture the respect which a heretic [the Protestant Tycho de Brahe] had for them.’
Olivieri: ‘Allow us to ask him in turn: in astronomy Protestants have abandoned Tycho, despite his extremely great merit, and they believe his system is a monstrous absurdity; instead they have turned to follow Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo (all great Catholic men) [Kepler was not a Catholic, he was a Protestant], who are believed to hold the truth, the physical evidence, and the increasingly stronger observational confirmations; why then do you want to oblige a Catholic to follow a heretic who has been abandoned by his fellow heretics.’
Using the quote above from the Luthern seminary as an example, it was Protestant who championed the geocentrism of Scripture long before any Catholic became involved. Given the spurious arguments offered by Olivieri in support of heliocentrism and the removal of the bans against heliocentrism, it is worth noting he also tried to have his way by taunting Anfossi throughout his report, just as YECs are taunted on CIF by others. Here are more examples of the ridicule Fr Olivieri used against Fr Anfossi: ‘This proposition seems to me to be infected with intolerable absurdity.’ ‘The fact is that you say nothing with any perspicacity or with distinct clarity.’ ‘The Rev. Father must be joking when…’ ‘He also dares to say..’ ‘Why, Most Rev. Father, instead of talking off the top of your head…’ ‘I find his internal incoherence stupefying.’ ‘Any Catholic should be ashamed for him of what he says.’ ‘He’s been seduced by unknown incompetent persons.’
Topic: Fr Paul Robinson SSPX. v Young Earth Creationists (Read 29495 times)