The Purga of 1668 and Catholic Suppression of Science
Perhaps the most blatant fiction in Dan Brown’s story is the 1668 ‘purga’
where the Catholic Church is alleged to have branded scientists with a sign of
the cross to purge them of their sins (p131). It is clearly helpful to the plot
for this to have occurred, but it did not happen. Nevertheless, it must also be
said that the Catholic Church has at times been famously brutal when sentencing
those convicted of heresy.
The most famous case in this regard is that of Giordano Bruno. In the year
1600 Bruno - a Dominican priest - was burned at the stake by the Roman Catholic
Church. It is often said that he was killed for his scientific ideas. It’s true
that Bruno believed that the Universe was infinite, and filled with countless
other worlds (each world had its own soul and was populated by other beings).
According to popular myth, Bruno was executed for these ideas, but as far as we
know, Bruno's science wasn't the issue at all. What the church deemed heretical
was his advocacy of a magical and animistic religion, his denial of the
divinity of Jesus, and his view that Jesus got what he deserved when he was
crucified!
On page 27, Max Kohler, the head of CERN claims that scientists (implying
Copernicus) "were murdered by the
church for revealing truths. Religion has always persecuted science.” While
we can no doubt find fault with the manner in which the church has treated some
scientists, historians do not believe any
scientists - including Galileo - were killed or threatened with death by the
Catholic Church because of their research.
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| Contributed by: Adrian Wyard
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