Let us see now whether the ensuing historical events agree better with this suspicious note. Two days after the sitting of 3rd March, in accordance with the order of Paul V., the decree of the Congregation of the Index on writings and books treating of the Copernican system was published. It ran as follows:—
“And whereas it has also come to the knowledge of the said Congregation, that the Pythagorean doctrine—which is false and altogether opposed to Holy Scripture—of the motion of the earth, and the quiescence of the sun, which is also taught by Nicholas Copernicus in _De Revolutionibus orbium Cœlestium_, and by Diego di Zuñiga in (his book on) Job, is now being spread abroad and accepted by many—as may be seen from a certain letter of a Carmelite Father, entitled, _Letter of the Rev. Father Paolo Antonio Foscarini, Carmelite, on the opinion of the Pythagoreans and of Copernicus concerning the motion of the earth, and the stability of the sun, and the new Pythagorean system of the world, at Naples, printed by Lazzaro Scorriggio, 1615_: wherein the said father attempts to show that the aforesaid doctrine of the quiescence of the sun in the centre of the world, and of the earth’s motion, is consonant with truth and is not opposed to Holy Scripture. Therefore, in order that this opinion may not insinuate itself any further to the prejudice of Catholic truth, the Holy Congregation has decreed that the said Nicholas Copernicus, _De Revolutionibus orbium_, and Diego di Zuñiga, on Job, be suspended until they be corrected; but that the book of the Carmelite Father, Paolo Antonio Foscarini, be altogether prohibited and condemned, and that all other works likewise, in which the same is taught, be prohibited, as by this present decree it prohibits, condemns, and suspends them all respectively. In witness whereof the present decree has been signed and sealed with the hands and with the seal of the most eminent and Reverend Lord Cardinal of St. Cecilia, Bishop of Albano, on the 5th day of March, 1616.”[144]
In this decree, as is strikingly pointed out by Emil Wohlwill, a distinction is drawn between two classes of writings: those which advocate the positive truth of the Copernican system—which are absolutely interdicted and condemned; and those to which, by some modifications, a hypothetical character can be given—these are to be suspended until the needful corrections have been made. This indicated the precise attitude which the Church thought to take with regard to the Copernican system. As a mere working hypothesis it was not dangerous to the Roman Catholic religion; but as irrefragable truth it shook its very foundations. They were, therefore, determined at Rome that it should not make way as truth—it was to be tabooed, banished, and if possible stifled; but as a mathematical hypothesis, the use of which was obvious even to the Romish _savans_, it might be allowed to stand. The cardinal’s admonition and the decree are in logical agreement with this intention. Galileo was to “renounce” the opinions of Copernicus, that is he was not to maintain them as established fact; as a hypothesis, like the rest of the world he might retain them. But according to the document of 26th February, entire silence was enjoined upon Galileo upon the subject of the double motion of the earth, for in the injunction neither to hold, teach, or defend it in any way (_quovis modo_), the hypothetical treatment was obviously included.